Wisconsin Struggle, this is What Democracy Looks Like!

Franken: Net Neutrality "Biggest Issue Since Freedom of Reli

Franken declares that net neutrality is the single most important First Amendment issue of our time, "Which until last week, I thought he had worked out," referring to the recent flame throwing about t . In his anti-media consolidation warning, Frankin quipped, "I don't think we should make small businesses to buy a first class ticket on line. And I don't think we should make bloggers to buy a first class ticket for people to hear their ideas."

In his drole commentary, Franken suggests that the proposed Comcast, NBC, Universal merger is not only a consolidation problem but a First Amendment problem.

Is the GOP Backing the Texas Green Party to Upset Democrats? | Southern Shift

Is the GOP Backing the Texas Green Party to Upset Democrats? | Southern Shift

So Hard to Maintain by Emma Katya

Ann Richards - On Texas, Petrochemicals and Pollution

What is said in campaigns and what is done are two different things, as history bares out, said former Texas Governor Ann Richards.

Illinois Green Party Draws PBS Attention

Why Are Green Party Candidates Better? from Tom Tresser on Vimeo.

Articulate, this year's slate of Green Party candidates in Illinois demonstrate that the financially challenged party is not without commitment in the state. Rich Whitney, a civil rights lawyer, has suited up for his second attempt at the Governor's office. In 2006, he successfully gained ballot access for his state's part by winning 10.4 per cent of the vote. This year, he hopes to get 40 per cent and take the office. In a state and during this time in our nation when dirty politics and corporate influence has received concentrated exposure, a 40 per cent win may not be unrealistic.

In this video Whitney, along with Illinois Green Party candidates Tom Tresser (Cook County Board President) and LeAlan Jones (U.S. Senate) are interviewed on Chicago Public Television. Articulate and on message, the candidates discuss the four pillars of the party's platform: social justice, environmental wisdom, non-violence, and grassroots democracy. When questioned about their lack of office experience, a rarely asked question of candidates of the two major parties, the candidates indicated that they have a lot of experience as community organizers (that seemed to work out well for Obama), that they are NOT beholding to corporate interests, and that they are prepared to enact good public policy to benefit the people.

Democracy NOW: Domestic Violence and Vulture Funds

Democracy NOW! showcased two very interesting segments last Wednesday, both intricately involved with victimization that occurs through violence. One segment discusses domestic violence and women's reproductive rights and the other, the practice of vulture funds stripping poor countries of Aid Money.

The Cruel Rule of Womens' Rights through Domestic Violence and the Health Care Insurance Industry
Follow this path to unreasonableness:

• Domestic violence is considered a pre-existing condition in eight states, allowing some health insurance companies to refuse all coverage. *
• If a pregnant woman is a victim of such battering and is in fear of losing her insurance, she will not disclose the abuse.
• Utah has just passed legislation that allows women who have, through planned or reckless behavior, terminated a fetus to be charged with infanticide or homicide. This is one state amongst others who are attempting to apply such laws.
  
• Continuing this logic, a loophole is opened that would allow a battered woman, afraid to leave her partner, who loses her fetus could be charged with attempted feticide or homicide.

While decriers criticize women's rights activists as taking an extreme interpretation on the hemming of pro-choice values, the fact remains that cases are coming forward that have this negatively legal effect on pregnant women. For eg. a young pregnant woman in Iowa fell down some stairs and when she went to the hospital, she was arrested for attempted infanticide. Another case in Utah where a woman pregnant with twins refused a C-section and was charged with murder after one of her babies emerged stillborn.

*Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming are amongst the states that allow insurance to deny coverage on the basis of domestic violence.


Greg Palast Blows the Cover on Vulture Funds Preying on Poor African Nations
(47 minutes into show)

Over the last five years, Britain, the United States and other countries have written off billions of dollars in loans to the world’s poorest countries. But a small group of vulture funds have been trying to divert that money into their own pockets. Investigative journalist Greg Palast traveled to the West African country of Liberia to investigate how vulture funds have been operating there and why Liberia lost a $20 million case against two vulture funds in a British court. [includes rush transcript]

Swap Your Purchases for Some Fair Trade

The United Kingdom's Fair Trade Organization launched its annual campaign to change consumer behavior, inviting people to flex their consumer muscles for the good of people everywhere by swapping out their usual product purchases for certified fair trade ones for just two weeks to start.

When you buy certified fair trade products, your purchases help local farmers and craftspeople earn a fair and stable income and thus allow communities to prosper and organize. Coffee, teas, chocolate, cotton, cosmetics, fruits, and ice cream - yes even ice cream can all be bought with the assurance that the community that produced its ingredients are building a sustainable future.

And leading the delicious path to fair trade this month is Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, whose founders have committed to using all fair trade ingredients by 2013. Co-founder Jerry Greenfield said, “Fair Trade is about making sure people get their fair share of the pie. The whole concept of Fair Trade goes to the heart of our values and sense of right and wrong. Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else.”

PG&E Greenwash Threatens to Contradict Itself

The California energy company, Pacific, Gas & Electric is out to help protect your voting rights, or so this ad would make it appear. However, the Yes on Prop 16 campaign masks the private utility company's effort to thwart local governments at a state level from exploring the economic viability of creating municipal energy solutions, thus actually eliminating local control.

Last month, the CA Attorney General staff's determined that the name of the proposition was misleading, and it renamed the proposition the "New Two-Thirds Vote Requirement for Local Electricity Providers". Despite the redubbing, this PG&E sponsored ad, as of today, continues to run on the NYTimes website, amongst other places.

Capitalizing on the anti-tax sentiment, creators of Proposition 16 purports to do one thing:

It requires voter approval before local governments can spend public money or incur public debt to get into the electricity business. And like most other major local special tax and bond decisions in California, this would require two-thirds voter approval.

Opponents to the corporate backed Prop 16, "New Two-Thirds Vote Requirement for Local Electricity Providers"which includes former Energy Commissioner John Geesman, Assemblyman Mark Leno, and the League of Women Voters, assert that PG&E is trying to secure a monopoly on energy production in the state, not provide voters' right.

PG&E's board has authorized spending up to $35 million on this initiative. However, the local governments, municipal utilities, and irrigation districts targeted by this misleading Proposition are prohibited by law from spending anything to oppose it.

Former California Energy Commissioner, John Geesman wrote on his blog:

California's investor-owned utilities face a Himalayan task in modernizing our electricity system and building the infrastructure necessary to serve a growing economy. They ought to focus on that, rather than manipulating the electorate to kneecap their few competitors. Has there ever been a time when we needed greater downward pressure on electricity rates?

Several municipalities in California have successfully led shifts to municipal power, including Alameda County, Sacramento, Trinity Counties, Pasadena, and Sebastopol.

To date, PG&E has fought off communities attempting to consider municipal owned utilities one at a time. This effort at a statewide level is seen as a direct attack against movements in both San Francisco and Marin Counties, as well as other communities. In the recent past, San Francisco put forward several measures but PG&E grossly outspent the grassroots effort and the measure failed to pass. However, that has not dimmed the hopes of the municipal power activists, prompting PG&E's umbrella initiative effort.

For more information:
PG&E Powergrab
"Measure Protects PG&E, not Taxpayers," Redding.com
Sierra Club
Yes on Prop 16
PG&E vs. Democracy

Today's Greenwashing Moment: Bold Audi Ad Pokes Fun at EcoFacism

Satire has overtaken the airwaves and this Breaking Superbowl Ad from Audi is a very ironic piece. Since its inception, the automobile has been a catalyst for status as well as a social equalizer. Early car ads described the car as manageable and were rather perfunctionary. As people became accustomed to driving, the commercials began to accelerate, literally. Now, the next favorable marketing niche is green.

The fascist overtones amuse greenies, but decriers of eco-terrorism are pounding the blogosphere as if the green police were already on their doorstep.

Compromised Fed Captured by Bankers

When Mother Jones and the Wall Street Journal come to the same conclusion regarding Wall Street's control over the Federal Government, there's a truth unveiled that goes beyond partisan politics. Yet real reform is far from being instituted. Mother Jones' Kevin Drum and David Corn discuss with Bill Moyers the intellectual as well as regulatory capture that the banking industry has over the complex issues which control our economy in this fiery podcast.

Moyers, who has maintained a calm interview style in the past, has come out punching in his last few shows. He will be retiring his show in March and it will be fascinating to see where he next moves. His strongest passion has been for campaign finance reform as envisioned by FairVote.org.


Excerpt from Jan. 8, 2010 show:

MOTHER JONES political blogger Kevin Drum explained the phenomenon using a term used by economist Simon Johnson:

It goes beyond regulatory capture, where, say the banks control the S.E.C. That's one thing. "Intellectual capture" means that essentially the financial industry has convinced us — you know, in the '50s what was good for General Motors was good for America — now it's what's good for Wall Street is good for America. And they've somehow convinced us that we shouldn't ask about what's right or what works or what's good for America. We should ask what's productive, what's efficient, what helps grow the economy.

It is this "intellectual capture" that prevents a reform movement from taking hold. David Corn, Washington bureau chief for MOTHER JONES, explains:

While [people are] angry at Wall Street, particularly on the corporate compensation front — which is very easy to get angry about — they also are fearful of taking Wall Street on, because they've been taught that if the Dow falls, if you take on the big banks, it's going to be bad for all of us. So, it really is this "Stockholm Syndrome," where we're forced to identify with people who are holding us hostage without our interest in mind.

Humor in a Time of Insanity: MoveOn Socks Lieberman

This Week's Greenwash: Nespresso Composts Jeweled Coffee Grounds

A composting video from Nespresso Ecolaboration TM

We could not resist this beautifully produced and incredibly ironic promotional video for Nespresso's composting coffee and recyling campaign. That said, Nespresso does make a delicious expresso and brings to light the question of our urge for enhanced experiences and the implications they have for our sustainable planet.

Franken Defends Progressive Funding Amendment for Healthcare

In this video, it's good to see the Progressive Senators Frankin, Sanders and Brown fired up on all cylinders.

Republicans, who have driven the conversation regarding just how the healthcare bill will be payed for, have also pushed for rules that would lay the burden of the costs on moderate to middle income earners receiving employer based health care, presumably in an attempt to inspire public fury to help defeat the bill or to insulate the wealthy from a progressive tax, all the while protecting the escalating profit margins of healthcare insurance providers.

Senator Al Frankin (D-MN), along with Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are sponsoring an amendment that would remove the 40 per cent excise tax on employer based healthcare insurance currently written into the Senate bill and replace it with a progressive tax, aligning it closer to the House bill.

A letter which the three Progressive Senators are circulating in the Halls states, "While we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the last thing the American middle class need right now is a tax on their health benefits." The letter also said: "99.98% of individuals and 99.92% of families would not see their taxes go up by one dime under the Sanders-Brown-Franken Amendment."

In an attempt to derail the progressive Senators' agenda, Senator Thune (R-SouthDakota) had declared that Americans would see no benefits until 2016 while taxes would begin immediately, fueling the image of a bureaucracy unable to deliver. Frankin called out Thune, his "friend from across the aisle" for either not reading the healthcare bill or purposefully misrepresenting facts about when the benefits will begin.

"Let's have an honest debate, for goodness sakes. Let's not put up charts that contend one thing that are just not true.” said Frankin. “We are entitled to our own opinions. We are not entitled to our own facts.”

The Senators claim their amendment would raise $151 billion over ten years -- two billion dollars more than the estimated revenue from the excise tax.


Other healthcare bill fights Progressive Lions are leading include:
Sanders prescription drug importation rights
Frankin on Women’s Reproduction Rights

Kucinich Calls for Congress to Seize Back War Powers

Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio has begun circulation of 2 privileged resolutions designed to retract powers lent to the Excutive Branch to fund wars in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Kucinich, a consistent anti-war Democrat, announced the drafting of the resolutions after President Hamid Karzai said his country would need US's military support for another 15 to 20 years, making the 2011 draw down that President Obama recently proposed impossible.

My bills, which would trigger a timeline for a timely withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan, invoke the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and are intended to secure the Constitutional role of Congress, as directly elected representatives of the people, under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, to decide whether or not America enters into war, continues a war, or otherwise introduces armed forces or material into combat zones.

Despite the president's assertion that previous congressional action gives him the authority to respond to the attacks of September 11, 2001, a careful reading of the Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) makes cleat that the AUMF did not supersede "any requirement of the War Powers Resolution" and therefore did not undermine Congress' ability to revisit the constitutional question of war powers at a later date.

Kucinich will be speaking at an anti-war rally in Washington D.D. on December 12 sponsored by EndUSWars.org. Other speakers include Senator Mike Gravel, 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and World Can't Wait's Executive Director Debra Sweet.


Privileged Resolutions PDF
War Powers Act of 2001

Climate Talks Hike Carbon Footprint in Copenhagen

The UK Telegraph provides a seriously amusing redux of the first day of the Climate Talks and is well worth a read. Private jets, private cars, a carbon footprint that displays no serious effort to contain itself - these are the earmarks of a great party. However both critics from the Left and Right wrangle with the Cap n' Trade of this junket. Will there be serious negotiations?

The Obama Administration declared yesterday that, yes - greenhouse gasses including carbon dioxide emissions "threaten the public health and welfare of the American people," thus empowering the agency to regulate a wide range of CO2-emitting industries under provisions of the Clean Air Act. President Obama intends to drop-in on the Climate Talks after receiving his Nobel Prize in Norway, a photo op which is likely to draw all sorts of praise and criticism.


From Americans for Prosperity

The provided video from Americans For Prosperity, critical of the Climate Talks and its impact on American capitalism, displays the mega-use of private cars carrying delegates while public transportation stands unused. Of course, there is the excuse that delegates must be concerned with security, but the irony is nonetheless delicious.

The Story of Cap and Trade

The Story of Stuff meteored to international success and has fueled the next chapter in Annie Leonard's animated series on the environmental impact of our policies and practices, " The Story of Cap and Trade." Ironic and amusing, this animation points a finger at the troubles with using a market-based system to control the amount of carbon emissions we create because, as Leonard says, "there are a lot of devils in the details of the cap n' trade proposals on the table."

Future chapters include more animated storytelling on the life cycle of Plastic Bottles and electronics. Check it out on The Story of Stuff website.

RFK, Jr. and Ralph Nader on the Economy

This Turkey Talks Politics

Turkey That Thinks it's a Dog from Polidoc on Vimeo.

Here's a turkey, convinced that it's a dog. He'd much rather be a part of the political discourse then a main course at dinner. Kent Mesplay of the Green Party talks with his self-sufficient green-leaning Libertarian friend in San Diego about some of the similarities between the two minor parties.

Politicians Act as Professional Weather Vanes - It's Up to Us to Blow the Wind in the Right Direction

David Sirota at Cody's bookstore in Berkeley, CA June 12, 2008

This piece we shot of David Sirota back in the summer of 2008 continues to address the problems we see swarming the halls of government that affect our lives. We are pulling it out of the archives as a reminder of the work ahead of citizens to pull the reins of government so that it will perform for the people and not the special interests.