DNC Offers to Help Drop the Ball by Mark Roebuck (The Hard Times).
The Clock is Ticking
Leonard Peltier is old, sick and innocent. If he is not pardoned by President Obama, he will die in prison.
From the No Comment Desk:
Scenarios presented in Fighter Not Killer, an app that is used by militant groups, including the Islamic State, to test combatants’ knowledge of international humanitarian law. The app was created by Geneva Call, an NGO that promotes humanitarian norms in armed conflict. Zako is a character who represents an untrained recruit:
You are on patrol after a battle and come across two wounded fighters. First, Zako, with a bullet wound in the shoulder. Second, an enemy fighter, who is breathing but unconscious. Zako looks at you and says, “Kill him!” Can you kill the unconscious enemy fighter?
You go to a café to pick up new recruits. They begin to harass and fondle the barmaid, telling her that she should do her duty to the cause. Can the men force the barmaid to have sex?
On patrol, you discover that many farm animals have died from starvation. Zako has an idea: “Let’s dump the carcasses into the stream. It flows into the enemy camp and we’ll contaminate their water supply.” Can you use the carcasses to contaminate the enemy’s water supply?
It is the end of a long, dry summer. Zako says, “Let’s burn the forest down. The enemy will either become charcoal or run right into our arms.” Can you burn down the forest?
Zako is very excited. He has discovered that the local hospital is treating wounded enemy fighters. He wants to destroy the hospital so that it can no longer assist the enemy. Can you target the hospital?
Zako approaches your checkpoint in an ambulance with a red crescent. He winks at you and says the enemy will never know what hit them. Can Zako use an ambulance with the red-crescent emblem to attack the enemy?
You have received information on the route an enemy general will take. You plan an ambush and capture the general. Your supreme commander calls you on the radio and says the general has critical information. Because of military necessity he authorizes you to torture the general, but only as much as necessary. Can you torture the general?
You are conducting a guerrilla campaign. Your commander instructs you to detonate a remote-control bomb targeting an enemy general on a road. Just as the jeep approaches, you notice a school bus full of children approaching from the opposite direction. They will pass the bomb at the same time. Can you launch the attack?
You retreat to a village where civilians are sympathetic to your struggle. The mayor offers to assemble the schoolchildren around your base as shields. Can you accept the mayor’s offer?
Your bureaucrats at work
"City gears up to count the homeless"
"Cyclists count (officially now) in Santa Monica" -- Local headlines.
Here's an idea. Instead of counting bicyclists and the homeless, how about making the streets safe to ride and building some shelters?
Unforced Error
After eight years in office, Barack Obama's greatest failure will be to leave office without delivering justice and mercy to political prisoner Leonard Peltier.
Case of Leonard Peltier (FreeLeonard.org)
Leonard Peltier, 38 years a detainee: How did we get here? (Amnesty International)
A Tax for All Seasons
So, Christmas eve:
Santa Monica's meter maids and masters -- Grinches, all -- are out in force.
Parking spaces everywhere, so it's not about "managing a scarce resource."
It's about imposing an extremely high, regressive tax.
It's about revenue.
Cover Up
Those outraged by Muslim culture might consider how recently our own modesty police roamed the land.
Who'll be AG?
Non-profit executive Sara Hernandez, a former aide to Los Angeles city councilmember Jose Huizar, on Tuesday entered the race to replace state attorney general nominee Xavier Becerra in the House, joining assemblyman Jimmy Gomez and Arturo Carmona, a former political strategist for Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the competition. Hernandez said she had raised more than $150,000 since she began fundraising last week, according to the LA Times. LA city councilmembers Gil Cedillo and David Ryu and school board member Monica Garcia are also believed to be considering runs; former assembly speaker John A. Pérez, the first to announce, has already dropped out. “The special election would probably be held no earlier than spring 2017, though the law gives the governor wide discretion in setting the schedule," says the Times.
Not The Onion:
Rick Perry, who blew up his own campaign for president, will now oversee the National Nuclear Security Administration for the winner.
Book Proposal
Why hasn't John Wiley & Sons published "The Oval Office for Dummies"? There are 239 titles in the series, but not the one we need.
"It Can't Happen Here."
Not only can it happen here, it probably will.The same people who, out of complacency, did not resist as Barack Obama embraced and enlarged the mechanisms of oppression, will not resist, this time out of fear and despondency, as Donald Trump uses them.
No longer can Americans smugly scorn the complicity of "good Germans" in Hitler's rise. We are all good Germans now.
Seriously?
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) is reportedly under consideration for Energy or Interior secretary, as is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Whether the Democrats allow their numbers in the Senate to be reduced in this way will provide another measure of how serious they are about thwarting GOP ambitions.
Mr. "President"
"Normalizing" took an interesting turn tonight when NPR, reporting on candidates to head the VA, noted that, even though up to now the administrator has always been a veteran, this time two non-veterans are also being considered, including "Sarah Palin, whose son served in Iraq," the last said in a tone suggesting her son's history somehow makes up for her own lack of military experience.
It's class, stupid
To understand economic justice, we need to think beyond touching anecdotes about lost jobs, untreated illnesses and hungry kids.
"Classes are large groups of people differing from each other by the place they occupy in a historically determined system of social production, by their relation (in most cases fixed and formulated by law) to the means of production, by their role in the social organization of labor, and, consequently, by the dimensions of the share of social wealth of which they dispose and the mode of acquiring it. Classes are groups of people one of which can appropriate the labor of another owing to the different places they occupy in a definite system of social economy." -- V.I. Lenin, A Great Beginning, in Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 421.
Hansen Unplugged: Signs of change
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Albert Einstein.
From the How Things Really Work Desk:
Madoff Investors Keep Billions in Profit (this is from a NYTimes email)
The company led by the American billionaire Koch brothers, along with dozens of banks and fund managers, kept billions of dollars in profit from Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme in accounts offshore.
And, it turns out, the funds can stay there.
They had invested in the Madoff fund from offshore accounts, and a judge said that certain funds held abroad, worth an estimated $2 billion, could not be made available to victims of the Madoff scheme.
The judge said foreign bankruptcy proceedings blocked the trustee from gaining access to the money. Koch Industries began investing in the Madoff fund well before its collapse and pulled out $21.5 million in 2005.
The money went to a fund registered in the British Virgin Islands and then to a Koch entity in Britain. They were not alone.
Several European banks also had Madoff money offshore, according to court papers, including HSBC, UBS, Credit Suisse, an international arm of Merrill Lynch and the French money manager Natixis.
The rest of the story:
The company led by the American billionaire Koch brothers, along with dozens of banks and fund managers, kept billions of dollars in profit from Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme in accounts offshore.
And, it turns out, the funds can stay there.
They had invested in the Madoff fund from offshore accounts, and a judge said that certain funds held abroad, worth an estimated $2 billion, could not be made available to victims of the Madoff scheme.
The judge said foreign bankruptcy proceedings blocked the trustee from gaining access to the money. Koch Industries began investing in the Madoff fund well before its collapse and pulled out $21.5 million in 2005.
The money went to a fund registered in the British Virgin Islands and then to a Koch entity in Britain. They were not alone.
Several European banks also had Madoff money offshore, according to court papers, including HSBC, UBS, Credit Suisse, an international arm of Merrill Lynch and the French money manager Natixis.
The rest of the story:
What's wrong with the Democrats?
“For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.” -- Sen. Chuck Schumer before the election.
How'd that work out for you, Chuck?
Be careful what you wish for
All this talk about Donald Trump getting busted or impeached... Mike Pence would be a lot more focused, determined and competent than the attention-deficited president-elect. And Pence would start with a cache of good will for not being Trump.
"I'll be back."
Last night Bernie Sanders gave a surprise address outside the White House during a global day of action against the Dakota Access pipeline that included demonstrations in over 300 cities.
Democrats have some 'splainin' to do
"In ... poring over the exit polling, there are numerous counter-intuitive findings that explain why Trump proved to be a lot more acceptable than his detractors acknowledged." For example, "Trump won white women by a whopping 10 points (53 to 43 percent), smashing the conventional wisdom that his candidacy would fuel a historic gender gap. ... Nonwhite voters preferred Trump to" Mitt Romney, Trump won a greater share of blue-collar votes than Ronald Reagan. ... Trump won 10 percent of Obama supporters. ... The military leadership is wary of Trump, but veterans supported him overwhelmingly. ... [H]e won a larger share of the Jewish vote ... than either George W. Bush in 2000 ... or John McCain in 2008." (National Journal)
Just axing
It is intriguing that some U.S.Senators who have the most liberal records -- Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin, Al Franken -- come from swing states. Is there a lesson here in what it takes to win in the flyover as a Democrat?
How far back can Trump turn the clock?
It is going to be interesting to see how much President Donald Trump will be able to or even try to get done.
In his first 100 days, he promised, he will cancel “every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum, and order issued by President [Barack] Obama," which he will have the power to do. These could include the Syrian refugee program; increased regulations on greenhouse gas emissions for the nation’s power plants; the right to take family medical leave for same-sex couples; and halting the deportations of illegal immigrant children. And he vowed to repeal Obamacare, which would strip over 20 million Americans of their health insurance, although this may be more difficult than he imagines: the insurance hogs will not go easy from the trough.
He threatened to impose a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports, officially branding China as “a currency manipulator,” while also seeking a 35 percent tariff on Mexican imports, but pressure from the business community should be enough to keep him from setting off a trade war and sparking a world-wide depression (the stock market already seems to be pricing in tax-cut Trump but ignoring trade-war Trump).
He promised to deport 2 million “criminal illegal immigrants” on his first day in office, but it took Obama six years to accomplish that, so expect a slow acceleration there, and the wall is a non-starter.
More seriously, he pledged to cut all federal funding to “sanctuary cities,” which are municipalities whose local policies do not permit prosecuting people only for being undocumented. He said he will cut all payments to U.N. climate-change programs which, in addition to likely signaling an increase in U.S. emissions, will also cut budgets of U.S. universities and laboratories dedicated to studying climate-change. Some of this is real. Some of it is campaign rhetoric. More dangerous may be that he won't veto actions by the whackos controlling Congress.
Also, amid all the whining and puling about Trump, it's important to remember that Obama still has a month and a half to try to ram through TPP.
Time to get organized, folks.
Even if they are mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre people. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? -- after Roman Hruska
BuzzFeed has an inside list of eminences being considered for senior positions in the next administration.
Not to draw distinctions too fine, but: cretins, criminals, conmen and clowns.
I know this is serious, and it's going to take a lot of hard work to stop this cabal from doing its worst, but -- Christie? Bolton? Palin? Rick Scott? Giuli-freaking-ani! -- admit it, it's also going to be fun. Ben Carson as Secretary of Education alone is almost worth the pain and suffering. Plus, you gotta wonder which countries will get Willie Robertson, Scott Baio, Natalie Gulbis, Antonio Sabato, Jr. and Kid Rock as U.S. ambassadors (will the Swon Brothers each get a country or will they have to share? Maybe one can have Trinidad and the other Tobago).
And where's Carly Fiorina when you need her?
"In total, the list includes 41 names and covers 14 different departments. A source told BuzzFeed that the list is not final and will likely be changed in the future.
"Attorney general picks include Chris Christie, Jeff Sessions and Rudy Giuliani.
"Newt Gingrich, John Bolton and Bob Corker are listed as potential picks for the secretary of State.
"Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is the only name listed under chief of staff, while Sessions is also the only one being considered for director of Office of Management and Budget.
"Christie is also being weighed for secretary of Homeland Security, and Carson, Gingrich and Florida Gov. Rick Scott are potential picks for secretary of Health and Human Services.
"Sarah Palin also makes a surprise appearance on the shortlist, mentioned as one of seven potential candidates to become the secretary of the Interior.
"Potential secretary of Commerce picks include Christie and [Mike] Huckabee, while Carson is under consideration to be secretary of Education."
Caveat Empty
So a vote for Hillary Clinton in the primaries turns out to have been a vote for Donald Trump in the general election. It's not like millions of people didn’t try to warn the Democrats.
quote unquote: Adlai Stevenson
In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take. -- Adlai Stevenson
“Inside the polling booth, every American man and woman stands as the equal of every other American man and woman. There they have no superiors. There they have no masters save their own minds and consciences.” -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
It is not a horse race. The lesser of two evils is still evil.
Tomorrow, vote with your conscience.
From the Irony Desk:
"NSA Theft Suspect Worked for Contractor That Sells the Government Tech for Spotting Rogue Employees" --headline
Watch the feet not the mouth (a series)
Hillary Clinton is pressing Bernie Sanders to round up the kid vote for her.
"Although Sanders lost to Clinton, he consistently drew younger voters to his side with promises to take on Wall Street, make college less expensive and close the income gap. He called on young people in New Hampshire, a swing state in the presidential election, to get behind Clinton."Because, you know, Wall Street.
High Noon in Orange County
Needless to say, Applegate has the attention of the Democratic organization with an attendant increase in donations since June, but he's running against the richest person in Congress, so help out if you can: Doug Applegate for Congress.
The rest of the story:
Darrell Issa Gets Viable Challenger (Rollcall)
Issa may face tough re-election by Martin Wisckol (OC Register)
Extra credit:
(Don't Look Back: Darrell Issa, the congressman about to make life more difficult for President Obama, has had some troubles of his own by Ryan Lizza (The New Yorker)
Not So Grand: Behind Rep. Darrell Issa’s Three Auto Theft Accusations by Tommy Christopher (MEDIAite)
Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protesters with Dogs & Pepper Spray
Something monumental happened after the Obama Administration put a temporary halt on construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. For the first time ever, tribe leaders from dozens of historically rival nations put aside their differences to join together in ceremonial solidarity at the Sacred Stone Camp in North Dakota to call for a permanent end to the pipeline project.
Dorothy Healey, RIP.
"Legendary Communist and, later, legendary ex-Communist Dorothy Healey died [a decade ago today] at age 91. At barely five feet tall, with piercing blue-grey eyes, a razor sharp-intellect, often a pipe or a panatela in her hand, Dorothy was a power-house orator, a relentless organizer, and a fireball of political energy and optimism. The most
Thanks to her son, Richard Healey, her autobiography is available as a free pdf (Grass Roots Policy).
More:
-> Dorothy Ray Healey, Activist by Marc Cooper (Z Magazine).
-> An appreciation of one of the last members of the left's "greatest generation," known for her physical courage, warmth and intelligence, who spent a lifetime arguing eloquently for socialism, feminism and peace: Dorothy Healey by Mike Davis (The Nation).
Resource: Mapping U.S. Social Movements Through the 20th Century
The links on this site lead to more than 80 visualizations and data tables, with more to come. Dozens of maps and charts show the activist geography of NAACP, United Farm Workers (UFW), Socialist Party, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Communist Party, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). SNCC, Black Panther Party, the Chicana/o Movement, and underground newspapers from the 1965-75 are in the works. The National Woman's Party and NOW will follow.
Mapping U.S. Social Movements Through the 20th Century, directed by Professor James Gregory (University of Washington).
See, also: IWW History Project--The Industrial Workers of the World 1905-1935 and Upton Sinclair's End Poverty in California Campaign.
Mapping U.S. Social Movements Through the 20th Century, directed by Professor James Gregory (University of Washington).
See, also: IWW History Project--The Industrial Workers of the World 1905-1935 and Upton Sinclair's End Poverty in California Campaign.
"Is Bernie Sanders an effective political leader?"
Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters are accused of idealizing their candidate and ignoring his flaws and mistakes. But part of Sanders appeal lies in the fact that his campaign is focused on process and on building a movement that will help to turn the nation in a more positive direction than it has been in since the rise of Reaganism and Clintonism. Such a movement will be able to influence the behavior of those in power, including Bernie Sanders, just as the peace, civil rights and labor movements once did. In this context, his flaws and mistakes are less important than they might otherwise be.
As for his record of leadership, Sen. Sanders was largely responsible for the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 that provided "for an increase in the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans," not an insignificant piece of legislation.
It's worth noting in this context that, even given the cooperative nature of legislating, just a handful of bills, between four and six percent, submitted by members of Congress come to a vote and even fewer, somewhere between two and four percent, are enacted. It is striking that during his years in the House the Independent Socialist from Vermont had the highest rate of successfully passing amendments, bettering the record of any member from either major party.
Developing and introducing original legislation is a small part of what members of Congress are sent to Washington to do: co-sponsoring legislation (which Sanders has done for more than 200 successful bills) is another; also vitally important is organizing support for or opposition to proposed legislation among both legislative colleagues and the public; that he is good at this is presumably why the Democratic Senate leadership appointed Sen. Sanders to at least seven committees and named him chair of the important committee on the budget; actively participating in hearings, which Sen. Sanders also has been very active at; reviewing and voting on proposed bills; participating in oversight and investigation of the conduct of the legislative branch; and meeting and assisting constituents, which Sen. Sanders also must have a handle on, since he has held elective office for more that three decades and is viewed favorably by about 80% of his constituents in his home state.
One other thing: Sanders is frequently accused of introducing bills that have "no chance of passing." This misses an important part of the legislative process: preparing the ground for the future. In the Thirties and in the Sixties, opportunities opened up to make historic advances in social and economic progress. One important reason for the legislative achievements of the New Deal and the Great Society is that the groundwork had been laid by decades of debate over proposals that, when they were introduced, had "no chance of passing" (in fact, most of them had "no chance of passing" even in the legislative session in which they passed). The reason that the Sanders candidacy is so important is that it lays the groundwork for future advances in social and economic policy. It's not that a new New Deal will result immediately from Sanders' election, but that, for the first time since the early 1970s, we will be arguing over the right things.
About the frequently heard charge that he couldn't pass his "Socialist" (really, New Deal and Great Society) program even when "a totally Democratic Congress and Speaker" held sway: At no time since the Sixties, has the Congress not had a conservative majority. The big corner offices may have changed hands a few times, but the kleptocracy and the corporate agenda have never been seriously challenged. In so far as there has been resistance to business as usual, though, it has come from the Progressive Caucus in the House, made up of Liberal Democrats and founded by -- wait for it -- Bernie Sanders.
Despite the fact that Congress at certain points since the early 1970s has been nominally in the hands of Democrats is irrelevant, because the conservative majority -- made up of both Democrats and Republicans -- controlled both houses during the entire period. That nothing was done during the 25 working days with a Democratic supermajority underscores the the need to change business as usual in Washington by changing the makeup of the legislature. But you use what you have. Advancing the candidacy of Sen. Sanders is a step in the right direction.
Finally, it has to be kept in mind that one of Sanders' great blind spots is militarism. Although not nearly the hawk that Hillary Clinton is, Sanders supported brutal economic sanctions, drone assassinations and the legislation that paved the way for the Iraq War. One of the first jobs of his supporters if he is elected will be to oppose his endorsement of a militarized foreign policy, the same as it will be should Donald Trump or Clinton be commander in chief (the difference being that progressives will have considerably more influence in a Sanders administration).
It won't matter who is elected in 2016 if 2017 doesn't mark the rebirth of an independent, people's movement, accountable to its members, strong and disciplined enough to change the outcome of federal and local elections, and effective enough eventually either to wrest control of the Democratic Party from Wall Street and the corporations or to evolve into a viable progressive party. Sanders supporters are united in their persistent belief that change is possible, that the nation's present level of decline and dysfunction is not the way things need to be.
Follow-up: Has Bernie Sanders been given a pass on his own record on regime change? The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill tells Democracy Now! it can't be ignored that Sanders supported brutal economic sanctions, drone assassinations and the neocon legislation that paved the way for the Iraq. War:
Word Game
"Justice Department Program Stops Using ‘Demeaning’ Terms Like Felon and Convict" -- headline today
Also on the list: miscreant, evildoer, villain, jailbird, malefactor, wrongdoer, transgressor, lawbreaker, brigand, highwayman, desperado, hooligan, hoodlum, thug, scofflaw, bad actor, bad guy and gunsel. Yardbird can still be used, but only when referring to Charlie Parker. Particularly wrenching for Justice was the deletion of already pc terms like holdup person and highwayperson.
In related news, Justice will now refer to all federal crimes as oopsies.
Alexander Hamilton Will Share His Space on the Ten-Spot -- U.S. Treasury
This is only the beginning of changes to our currency, according to the Treasury Department.
In 2020, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth will appear together on the back of the $10 bill, and Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King will be honored in a group portrait with Abe Lincoln on the $5.
Rumors are unconfirmed that the $2 bill will feature all the people on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
People sitting behind desks think raising the retirement age is a good idea.
"A recurring theme in debates over Social Security policy is that workers should be encouraged to work later into their lives by raising the age at which they can get full benefits. Implicit in this argument is that most workers are in a situation where they would be able to work to an older age; however, many older workers stop working because they can no longer meet the physical demands of their job.
"In 2010, CEPR did an analysis that examined the percentage of older workers (ages 58 and over) who either worked in physically demanding jobs or in difficult work conditions. This paper is an update of that earlier study and is based on data from 2014.
"Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and Occupational Information Network (O*NET) it finds that in 2014, 8.0 million workers ages 58 and older (34.5 percent) had physically demanding jobs, while 5.1 million workers ages 58 and older (22.1 percent) had jobs with difficult working conditions. About 10.2 million workers ages 58 and older (43.8 percent) were employed either in physically demanding jobs or jobs with difficult working conditions. The workers who were most likely to be in these jobs were Latinos, the least educated (less than a high school diploma), immigrants, and the lowest wage earners.
"Physically demanding jobs include general physical activities, handling and moving objects, spending significant time standing, walking or running, making repetitive motions, or having any highly physically demanding work. Highly physically demanding jobs require dynamic, explosive, static, or trunk strength, bending or twisting of the body, stamina, maintaining balance, or kneeling or crouching. Difficult working conditions include working in a cramped workspace, labor outdoors, or exposure to abnormal temperatures, contaminants, hazardous equipment, whole body vibration, or distracting or uncomfortable noise."
#FeelTheBern!
While Hillary Clinton was in NYC hosting a $2,700 per plate dinner in a swanky location, Bernie Sanders was standing on a box in the Bronx speaking to more than 15,000 fans.
If you have any influence in New York, remind them that this season's presidential primary is a watershed moment in our political evolution. Let it not be said of us, as AJP Taylor said of the Liberal revolutions of 1848, that American "history reached its turning-point and failed to turn."
If you have any influence in New York, remind them that this season's presidential primary is a watershed moment in our political evolution. Let it not be said of us, as AJP Taylor said of the Liberal revolutions of 1848, that American "history reached its turning-point and failed to turn."
Power to the Peeps
"What is most remarkable about the Sanders phenomenon is that despite unrelenting hostility from the media gatekeepers of the status quo -- for example, Adam Johnson at FAIR.org documented that The Washington Post ran 16 negative stories about Bernie Sanders within 16 hours on March 8 -- he has continued to draw record crowds. He has also obtained more votes from those under age 30 than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined, pointing to a weakening of the power of the corporate media over political information in U.S. society and the growing influence of social media, at least amongst youth."
Is democratic socialism the American Dream? by John Bellamy Foster (The Washington Post)
Is democratic socialism the American Dream? by John Bellamy Foster (The Washington Post)
Donald Trump's Bad Deals: Marty Rosenberg on Trump Taj Mahal
This new video from AFL-CIO is a doozy: "I want people to see and understand what Mr. Trump is. I am only speaking up because most people won't."
See it here.
See it here.
TPP Eats, Shoots & Leaves
During the debate leading up to the passage of NAFTA, the stationery of an outfit lobbying for the treaty trumpeted: “North American Free Trade Agreement -- Exports. Better Jobs. Better Wages.”
So close.
The correct punctuation, of course, is: “North American Free Trade Agreement -- Exports Better Jobs, Better Wages.”
Expect similar lapses in grammar and punctuation -- and accuracy -- during the upcoming consideration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Reading list:
TPP: What is it and why does it matter? (BBC News).
The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership 2016 also can be accessed in French and Spanish language versions on the site of New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade.
TPP is a secretive, multinational trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on its enforcement. The main problems are two-fold: (1) digital policies that benefit big corporations at the expense of the public and (2) lack of transparency (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
More Job Offshoring, Lower Wages, Unsafe Food Imports: It's Worse than We Thought (Public Citizen).
Second Thoughts
“I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful.” -- Hillary Clinton, before the Michigan primary
“I don’t want to be the president for those who are already successful — they don’t need me. I want to be the president for the struggling and the striving.” -- Hillary Clinton, after the Michigan primary
Extra credit:
Crushing it
If you look at its history, you see that Bernie Sanders fits more snugly into the traditions and policies of the Democratic Party than does the Clinton cohort. If you ask the liberal base of the party, you get the same answer: that's what cost Hillary Clinton the job in 2008, and it's why, despite incredible institutional advantages, she hasn't been able to knock Sanders out of contention.
In this election, what’s at stake is not which particular subset of the oligarchy gets to decorate the big corner offices on Capitol Hill or who gets to weekend at Camp David. This is a fight about the future of the country.
The Democratic Party is a vehicle, a tool. If that tool can be used to improve our people's lives, great. That's the measure of its success. Winning, alone, is not. But even for those for whom the only goal is thwarting the GOP, in this season of frustration and discontent, Sanders is more likely to win the general election than Clinton.
More important: if it is not an instrument for improving the lives of ordinary citizens, what good is any political party? Why should people fighting for a living wage vote for a party, whatever its rhetoric, that stands in its way? Why should people who value economic justice vote for a party that embraces giveaways to the economic elite? Why should people who want peace vote for the party of war?
Oh, yeah: the other guys are worse. Is that truly enough?
The young are rallying to Sanders because he is addressing their fears about the future. The economic policies pursued by the Democrats and Republicans over the past 30 years have hurt everyone (except the 1%) to one degree or another, but the young most of all. Crushing debt, joblessness, vanishing career paths, globalization, demographics, and the rising cost of housing are slamming the incomes and destroying the prospects of millions of young people, resulting in unprecedented inequality not just between the economic elite and everyone else, but between generations. Of course they want a leader who makes fixing the economic mess the first priority.
What is true for the young is true for nearly every other demographic (with the possible exception of the elderly, whose lives are cushioned somewhat by programs, like Social Security and Medicare, initiated by -- that’s right -- the New Deal and the Great Society), which is why Sanders’ appeal has such a wide reach. Everyone is mad as hell; maybe, for the first time since the plutocratic counter-revolution began in the early 1970s, they’re not going to take it anymore. In the end, if the duoparty nominees are a radical reactionary and an establishment factotum, the Green Party may be about to enjoy its best year ever.
In this election, what’s at stake is not which particular subset of the oligarchy gets to decorate the big corner offices on Capitol Hill or who gets to weekend at Camp David. This is a fight about the future of the country.
The Democratic Party is a vehicle, a tool. If that tool can be used to improve our people's lives, great. That's the measure of its success. Winning, alone, is not. But even for those for whom the only goal is thwarting the GOP, in this season of frustration and discontent, Sanders is more likely to win the general election than Clinton.
More important: if it is not an instrument for improving the lives of ordinary citizens, what good is any political party? Why should people fighting for a living wage vote for a party, whatever its rhetoric, that stands in its way? Why should people who value economic justice vote for a party that embraces giveaways to the economic elite? Why should people who want peace vote for the party of war?
Oh, yeah: the other guys are worse. Is that truly enough?
The young are rallying to Sanders because he is addressing their fears about the future. The economic policies pursued by the Democrats and Republicans over the past 30 years have hurt everyone (except the 1%) to one degree or another, but the young most of all. Crushing debt, joblessness, vanishing career paths, globalization, demographics, and the rising cost of housing are slamming the incomes and destroying the prospects of millions of young people, resulting in unprecedented inequality not just between the economic elite and everyone else, but between generations. Of course they want a leader who makes fixing the economic mess the first priority.
What is true for the young is true for nearly every other demographic (with the possible exception of the elderly, whose lives are cushioned somewhat by programs, like Social Security and Medicare, initiated by -- that’s right -- the New Deal and the Great Society), which is why Sanders’ appeal has such a wide reach. Everyone is mad as hell; maybe, for the first time since the plutocratic counter-revolution began in the early 1970s, they’re not going to take it anymore. In the end, if the duoparty nominees are a radical reactionary and an establishment factotum, the Green Party may be about to enjoy its best year ever.
It's not over 'til it's over.
There's more to the primaries than picking the nominee. The delegates to the convention will write, amend and approve the party platform. Speeches will be made to the nation in prime time. The party chair will be chosen and DNC positions filled. Whether the nominee is Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, the more progressives that are elected to the convention, the more likely that the Democratic Party will return to its historic role as the champion of social and economic equality.
"Why do so many Democrats hate Hillary Clinton?"
It's not personal.
Any other establishment neo-liberal who ran, especially this year with
so many citizens fed up with business-as-usual, would be drawing the same kind of fire.
It's intensified in her case by her identification with and participation in her husband's administration's policies -- militarization of foreign policy; NAFTA, the push toward deregulation, particularly of the banks (see, the Great Recession) and telecom companies; the Drug War and mass incarceration; the cruel welfare reforms; embracing austerity and fetishizing balanced budgets.
Additionally, there is her habit of seeing every foreign policy issue as a nail needing hammering by the military, and her close ties to Wall Street and the corporate elite. Finally, she lacks a natural politician's gift for retail politics; she isn't light enough on her feet to pirouette past repeated panders and policy shifts without anyone noticing; belated adoption of progressive positions doesn't play as evolving, it looks like cynicism and politics-as-usual:
Fair or not, many Democratic voters perceive her campaign as a con.
Reading List:
-> The most surreal moment in the Democratic debates came when one of America’s most powerful insiders took umbrage at an accurate characterization of whom she represents. Of Course Hillary Clinton Exemplifies the Establishment by Conor Friedersdorf (The Atlantic).
-> How Neoliberal is Hillary Clinton? by Le Gauchiste (Daily Kos).
-> Neoliberalism from Reagan to Clinton by Gregory Albo (Monthly Review), a review of Surrender: How the Clinton Administration Completed the Reagan Revolution by Michael Meeropol (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998).
-> Hillary Clinton isn’t a champion of women’s rights. She’s the embodiment of corporate feminism. Hillary Clinton’s Empowerment by Kevin Young & Diana C. Sierra Becerra (Jacobin)
-> David Harvey not only looks into the political and economic dangers that surround us now, but also examines the prospects for more socially just alternatives. A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey (Oxford University Press).
-> If the Democrats lose in November 2016, they can't say they weren't warned: Stop Hillary! by Doug Henwood (2014: Harper's) and Ready for Hillary? Really? by Pierre Guerlain (2013: Truthout).
Any other establishment neo-liberal who ran, especially this year with
It's intensified in her case by her identification with and participation in her husband's administration's policies -- militarization of foreign policy; NAFTA, the push toward deregulation, particularly of the banks (see, the Great Recession) and telecom companies; the Drug War and mass incarceration; the cruel welfare reforms; embracing austerity and fetishizing balanced budgets.
Additionally, there is her habit of seeing every foreign policy issue as a nail needing hammering by the military, and her close ties to Wall Street and the corporate elite. Finally, she lacks a natural politician's gift for retail politics; she isn't light enough on her feet to pirouette past repeated panders and policy shifts without anyone noticing; belated adoption of progressive positions doesn't play as evolving, it looks like cynicism and politics-as-usual:
Fair or not, many Democratic voters perceive her campaign as a con.
Reading List:
-> The most surreal moment in the Democratic debates came when one of America’s most powerful insiders took umbrage at an accurate characterization of whom she represents. Of Course Hillary Clinton Exemplifies the Establishment by Conor Friedersdorf (The Atlantic).
-> How Neoliberal is Hillary Clinton? by Le Gauchiste (Daily Kos).
-> Neoliberalism from Reagan to Clinton by Gregory Albo (Monthly Review), a review of Surrender: How the Clinton Administration Completed the Reagan Revolution by Michael Meeropol (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998).
-> Hillary Clinton isn’t a champion of women’s rights. She’s the embodiment of corporate feminism. Hillary Clinton’s Empowerment by Kevin Young & Diana C. Sierra Becerra (Jacobin)
-> David Harvey not only looks into the political and economic dangers that surround us now, but also examines the prospects for more socially just alternatives. A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey (Oxford University Press).
-> If the Democrats lose in November 2016, they can't say they weren't warned: Stop Hillary! by Doug Henwood (2014: Harper's) and Ready for Hillary? Really? by Pierre Guerlain (2013: Truthout).
That Time Allen Ginsberg Wrote a Socialist Poem -- About Bernie Sanders
"Last June, while digging through 50 boxes of archival material about Bernie Sanders’s four terms as the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, a reporter for the British newspaper the Guardian found a poem
 |
| (Illustration: Anya Ulinich/Forward) |
"Ginsberg wrote, 'Socialist snow on the streets / Socialist talk in the Maverick Bookstore / Socialist kids sucking socialist lollipops.' Then he turned outward, questioning with almost Elizabethan wit: '--aren’t the birds frozen socialists? / Aren’t the snowclouds blocking the airfield Social Democratic appearances?'
"After Ginsberg shares the city’s governing idea, the poem itself is shared: 'Isn’t this poem socialist? It doesn’t belong to me anymore.'”
That Time Allen Ginsberg Wrote a Socialist Poem -- About Bernie Sanders by Allan M. Jalon (Forward)
Carpe Diem
We miss this moment at our peril. Hope and change was the right choice in 2008. Hope and change is the right choice now.
"At this moment, in this time, we have a chance to rewrite history. To restore government to a role in which it assures an equitable economy and society; a role that isn’t one of a scapegoat, a punch line, or a tool of the Oligarchy; a role where once again, government is the vehicle we use to accomplish great things together."
The rest of the story:
Establishment Democrats Missing the Moment – And the Point by John Atcheson (Common Dreams)
"At this moment, in this time, we have a chance to rewrite history. To restore government to a role in which it assures an equitable economy and society; a role that isn’t one of a scapegoat, a punch line, or a tool of the Oligarchy; a role where once again, government is the vehicle we use to accomplish great things together."
The rest of the story:
Establishment Democrats Missing the Moment – And the Point by John Atcheson (Common Dreams)
Money for Nothing
One bulwark against the rise of oligarchy is the estate tax, a progressive tax on property (cash, real estate, stocks and bonds and other assets) left by dead people to their heirs. Only the wealthiest estates are affected because it’s levied only on the property in an estate that exceeds a specified exemption -- right now, $5.43 million per person (effectively $10.86 million per married couple). The estate tax helps to limit, a little, the large tax breaks that the extremely rich get on their wealth as it grows, income which otherwise can go untaxed.
Besides being an important source of revenue, estate taxes are intended to prevent gross economic inequality which, if left unchecked, can
poison a society. (Conservatives make a big deal about the “death tax,” but it affects very few people -- last year, because of the current high exemption, 99.8% of estates owe no estate tax -- by way of context, the exemption jumped from $650,000 per person in 2001 to $5.43 million per person now; even so, conservatives repeatedly try to get rid of it entirely).
The current exemption is too high, reflecting the influence of money on Congress, but, that aside, estate taxes are also too narrowly defined. If inequality is to be reduced, the tax on the transfer of wealth should be broadened to cover all wealth received in one’s lifetime, and taxed as income. This would reward people who give away their wealth broadly -- a social good -- and act as a brake on it piling up in the hands of the few.
If we as a nation want to counter inequality even more aggressively, we could use wealth transfer revenues to fund a minimal inheritance for every citizen to be paid when they come of age. Providing a more level starting point would result in a society with much greater opportunity.
Reading List:
-> "Let's be clear on this point. The tax burdens those who inherit the wealth, not those who produced it; it is a tax on Paris Hilton, not Conrad Hilton. And it does not conflict with the values of hard work, entrepreneurship and thrift.": It's Fair, and We Need the Revenue by Michael J. Graetz (Wall Street Journal).
-> The Three Fundamental Reasons Why We Need a Robust Estate Tax by Richard Phillips (Citizens for Tax Justice).
-> To Whom Much Is Given: Why We Need to Tax Inheritance by Jeffrey Mikkelson (Truthout).
-> Taxing Privilege More Effectively: Replacing the Estate Tax with an Inheritance Tax by Lily L. Batchelder (Brookings).
-> "Inheritance not only hands people valuable income in return for something we don't really want to further reward -- being born lucky -- but also, in doing so, it entrenches the least attractive feature of our economy: the fact that people who are born to affluent parents are much more likely to themselves be affluent than children born to the less well-heeled. Lack of economic mobility is generally regarded as a bad thing that we should combat.": Why Do We Allow Inheritance at All? by Megan McCardle (The Atlantic).
Extra Credit:
By not dealing promptly with his Cliven Bundys, Founding Father #1 wound up with the Whiskey Rebellion: How Former President Washington Dealt With The First Real Tax Crisis In America by Kelly Phillips Erb (Forbes).
The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution by Thomas P. Slaughter (Amazon).
Besides being an important source of revenue, estate taxes are intended to prevent gross economic inequality which, if left unchecked, can
The current exemption is too high, reflecting the influence of money on Congress, but, that aside, estate taxes are also too narrowly defined. If inequality is to be reduced, the tax on the transfer of wealth should be broadened to cover all wealth received in one’s lifetime, and taxed as income. This would reward people who give away their wealth broadly -- a social good -- and act as a brake on it piling up in the hands of the few.
If we as a nation want to counter inequality even more aggressively, we could use wealth transfer revenues to fund a minimal inheritance for every citizen to be paid when they come of age. Providing a more level starting point would result in a society with much greater opportunity.
Reading List:
-> "Let's be clear on this point. The tax burdens those who inherit the wealth, not those who produced it; it is a tax on Paris Hilton, not Conrad Hilton. And it does not conflict with the values of hard work, entrepreneurship and thrift.": It's Fair, and We Need the Revenue by Michael J. Graetz (Wall Street Journal).
-> The Three Fundamental Reasons Why We Need a Robust Estate Tax by Richard Phillips (Citizens for Tax Justice).
-> To Whom Much Is Given: Why We Need to Tax Inheritance by Jeffrey Mikkelson (Truthout).
-> Taxing Privilege More Effectively: Replacing the Estate Tax with an Inheritance Tax by Lily L. Batchelder (Brookings).
-> "Inheritance not only hands people valuable income in return for something we don't really want to further reward -- being born lucky -- but also, in doing so, it entrenches the least attractive feature of our economy: the fact that people who are born to affluent parents are much more likely to themselves be affluent than children born to the less well-heeled. Lack of economic mobility is generally regarded as a bad thing that we should combat.": Why Do We Allow Inheritance at All? by Megan McCardle (The Atlantic).
Extra Credit:
By not dealing promptly with his Cliven Bundys, Founding Father #1 wound up with the Whiskey Rebellion: How Former President Washington Dealt With The First Real Tax Crisis In America by Kelly Phillips Erb (Forbes).
The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution by Thomas P. Slaughter (Amazon).
This is what it looks like when people are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
 |
| Roberta Penn @StellaDean |
"Organized by the Move Forward Together Movement and the North Carolina Chapter of the NAACP, led by Rev. William Barber III, the demonstration attracted a diverse coalition of individuals and organizations who say the systematic attack on state services—including healthcare and education—along with eroded democratic control and new voting restrictions, have disempowered and further marginalized the state's most vulnerable populations.
"'The right to vote is at the heart of our democracy,' Rev. Barber told the crowd."
The rest of the story:
Thousands Rally in North Carolina for 'Moral Imperative' of Voting Rights by Jon Queally (Common Dreams)
Sen. Sanders foreign policy experience
The author, a former Asst. Secretary of Defense (under Reagan!), who advised Reagan, Kerry, George HW and Obama, is the guy who was publicly surprised when Sanders cited him as someone he listens to re. foreign policy, as they had only met once during the campaign. Sanders was mocked for this, but the author actually believes Sanders is strong and experienced in the foreign policy realm. -- Andrew J. Lederer
Bernie Sanders Is More Serious on Foreign Policy Than You Think by Lawrence Korb (Politico)
Bernie Sanders Is More Serious on Foreign Policy Than You Think by Lawrence Korb (Politico)
From the Makes Sense To Me Desk:
“Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists.” -- Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Poor me
Apparently, so desperate is the Hillary Clinton campaign it has decided to play the victim card. But if that's going to be our criterion for choosing the president, shouldn't we go with Joe Biden? He's had it a lot rougher than she has.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words Dept.:
-> make it easier for big corporations to ship our jobs overseas, pushing down our wages and increasing income inequalityReading List:
-> flood our country with unsafe imported food
-> jack up the cost of medicines by giving big pharmaceutical corporations new monopoly rights to keep lower cost generic drugs off the market
-> empower corporations to attack our environmental and health safeguards
-> ban Buy American policies needed to create green jobs
-> roll back Wall Street reforms
-> sneak in SOPA-like threats to Internet freedom and
-> undermine human rights.
The Government of Canada is committed to being transparent, open and consultative with Canadians on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
"TPP raises significant concerns about citizens’ freedom of expression, due process, innovation, the future of the Internet’s global infrastructure, and the right of sovereign nations to develop policies and laws that best meet their domestic priorities. In sum, the TPP puts at risk some of the most fundamental rights that enable access to knowledge for the world’s citizens:" What is TPP? (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
Provisions that allow foreign investors to bypass the federal courts could undermine U.S. legal protections: Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Unconstitutional? by Alan Morrison (The Atlantic).
The “Investor-State Dispute Settlement,” or ISDS, may sound mild, but don’t be fooled. Agreeing to ISDS in this enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty: The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Washington Post).
So it goes
As the senator from Vermont likes to say, let's be perfectly clear about this: "Bernie Sanders swept to a massive victory in the New Hampshire Democratic primary on Tuesday in a stunning win over Hillary Clinton that will send shockwaves through her campaign and give the Vermont senator much needed momentum as he heads for tougher states further south" (The Guardian).
Trending
All nine eligible residents of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, have voted, and it's looking grim for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Ohio governor John Kasich was the Republican winner, beating Donald Trump by three votes to two, while Senator Bernie Sanders swept with all four of the Democratic votes.
Just curious #67,233
If Bernie Sanders' understanding of economics is so inconsiderable, why have the Democrats made him the ranking minority member on the Senate Budget Committee? Just curious.
"Thank you, enemy."
On Obama: "And he, who would negotiate deals, kind of with the skills of a community organizer maybe organizing a neighborhood tea, well, he deciding that, 'No, America would apologize as part of the deal,' as the enemy sends a message to the rest of the world that they capture and we kowtow, and we apologize, and then, we bend over and say, 'Thank you, enemy.'” -- Sarah Palin
Let America Be America Again
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed --
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek --
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean --
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home --
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay --
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.
O, let America be America again --
The land that never has been yet --
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME --
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose --
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath --
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain --
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
-- Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967
From the essential Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (Vintage Classics, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.), a volume that belongs in every library.
Langston Hughes (Poetry Foundation).
Langston Hughes Biography (Bio.).
Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes (Poets.Org).
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed --
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek --
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean --
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home --
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay --
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.
O, let America be America again --
The land that never has been yet --
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME --
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose --
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath --
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain --
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
-- Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967
Langston Hughes (Poetry Foundation).
Langston Hughes Biography (Bio.).
Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes (Poets.Org).
Helen Keller on the $10
Part of the reason for redesigning our paper currency is to make it accessible to people with difficulty seeing (also, to make it harder to counterfeit). We are one of only two nations whose bills are the same size no matter what the denomination; most countries also vary the colors to make bills more detectable to people who are sight-impaired but not totally blind.
The next bill due for a redo is the $10, and the Treasury has announced that it intends to replace the current occupant, Alexander Hamilton, with a woman.
That being the case, although the women on the front page of today's New York Times -- Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks -- are all admirable, it seems to me that there is one stand-out candidate: Helen Keller (1880–1968).
Struck totally deaf and blind by a childhood illness when she was 19 months old, before she'd learned to speak, she overcame the adversity of being unable hear or see anything to become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians, an international champion for the disabled, a feminist, a socialist, a teacher and lecturer, a journalist, the first deaf-blind person to earn a BA, and a co-founder of the ACLU.
Parenthetically, it's not too late to erase autocratic, slave-trading, Indian-relocating, populist Andrew Jackson from our currency, instead of Hamilton who, as founder of the nation's financial system (not to mention a far better human being), has a more direct connection to our currency.
The rest of the story:
A Woman on the $10 Bill, and Everyone Has 2 Cents to Put In by Jackie Calmes (New York Times).
Reading list:
What Helen Keller Saw: The making of a writer by Cynthia Ozick (The New Yorker).
Three Days to See by Hellen Keller (1933; The Atlantic Monthly).
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (Amazon).
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Amazon).
Extra credit:
The Water Scene and the Breakfast Scene from The Miracle Worker (Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke; directed by Arthur Penn; written by William Gibson)(YouTube).
Buy The Miracle Worker (Amazon).
Helen Keller Speaks Out (YouTube)
Hamilton - Original Broadway Cast Recording: book, music and lyrics by Tony and Grammy Award-winning composer Lin Manuel Miranda, who also plays the title role; directed by Thomas Kail; choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler; music direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. The show was inspired by Chernow's biography (Amazon).
The next bill due for a redo is the $10, and the Treasury has announced that it intends to replace the current occupant, Alexander Hamilton, with a woman.
That being the case, although the women on the front page of today's New York Times -- Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks -- are all admirable, it seems to me that there is one stand-out candidate: Helen Keller (1880–1968).
Parenthetically, it's not too late to erase autocratic, slave-trading, Indian-relocating, populist Andrew Jackson from our currency, instead of Hamilton who, as founder of the nation's financial system (not to mention a far better human being), has a more direct connection to our currency.
The rest of the story:
A Woman on the $10 Bill, and Everyone Has 2 Cents to Put In by Jackie Calmes (New York Times).
Reading list:
What Helen Keller Saw: The making of a writer by Cynthia Ozick (The New Yorker).
Three Days to See by Hellen Keller (1933; The Atlantic Monthly).
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (Amazon).
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Amazon).
Extra credit:
The Water Scene and the Breakfast Scene from The Miracle Worker (Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke; directed by Arthur Penn; written by William Gibson)(YouTube).
Buy The Miracle Worker (Amazon).
Helen Keller Speaks Out (YouTube)
Hamilton - Original Broadway Cast Recording: book, music and lyrics by Tony and Grammy Award-winning composer Lin Manuel Miranda, who also plays the title role; directed by Thomas Kail; choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler; music direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. The show was inspired by Chernow's biography (Amazon).
Just Curious #27,632
So you've tweeted, "Bernie Sanders is a do-nothing failure."
Mayor. Member of the House of Representatives. U.S. Senator.
What have you done lately? Just curious.
Mayor. Member of the House of Representatives. U.S. Senator.
What have you done lately? Just curious.
The nation’s largest private-sector employer is told to obey the law
A federal administrative law judge has ordered
Wal-Mart to offer 16 former workers their previous jobs and to make them "whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits suffered as a result of the discrimination against them." The company must also hold meetings in more than two dozen stores to inform workers of their rights to organize under U.S. labor law.
The rest of the story:
Wal-Mart strikes lawful, must reinstate workers: NLRB judge by Nathan Layne (Reuters).
Further reading:
How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce: The retail giant is always watching by Susan Berfield (Bloomberg Businessweek).
Life as a Wal-Mart worker -- and how its employees are monitored at all times: America’s real-life dystopia: Wal-Mart is straight out of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley by Aaron R. Hanlon (Salon).
“We are not anti-union; we are pro-associate”: A Manager's Toolbox To Remaining Union Free ("CONFIDENTIAL" Wal-Mart document) (source: ReclaimDemocracy.org).
The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy by Charles Fishman (Amazon). "[T]he story of Wal-Mart is really the story of the transformation of the American economy over the past 20 years." Fishman is "careful to present the consumer benefits of Wal-Mart's staggering growth and to place Wal-Mart in the larger context of globalization and the rise of mega-corporations. But he also presents the case against Wal-Mart in arresting detail, and his carefully balanced approach only makes the downside of Wal-Mart's market dominance more vivid." -- Publisher's Weekly
The discount giant is closing 269 stores worldwide—and not even bothering to build stores it promised in poor neighborhoods: Can Cities Afford to Trust Walmart? by Kriston Capps (CityLab)
Extra credit:
This video is shown to all "associates" at on-boarding: it's imperative that everyone working for Wal-Mart understands that s/he is "better off" without a union.
The parody t-shirt at the top of this post and other merchandise is available from Reclaim Democracy!: "Reclaim Democracy! is dedicated to restoring democratic authority over corporations, reviving grassroots democracy, and establishing appropriate limits on corporate influence. We work for systemic change, instead of reacting to corporate agendas."
The rest of the story:
Wal-Mart strikes lawful, must reinstate workers: NLRB judge by Nathan Layne (Reuters).
Further reading:
How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce: The retail giant is always watching by Susan Berfield (Bloomberg Businessweek).
Life as a Wal-Mart worker -- and how its employees are monitored at all times: America’s real-life dystopia: Wal-Mart is straight out of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley by Aaron R. Hanlon (Salon).
“We are not anti-union; we are pro-associate”: A Manager's Toolbox To Remaining Union Free ("CONFIDENTIAL" Wal-Mart document) (source: ReclaimDemocracy.org).
The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy by Charles Fishman (Amazon). "[T]he story of Wal-Mart is really the story of the transformation of the American economy over the past 20 years." Fishman is "careful to present the consumer benefits of Wal-Mart's staggering growth and to place Wal-Mart in the larger context of globalization and the rise of mega-corporations. But he also presents the case against Wal-Mart in arresting detail, and his carefully balanced approach only makes the downside of Wal-Mart's market dominance more vivid." -- Publisher's Weekly
The discount giant is closing 269 stores worldwide—and not even bothering to build stores it promised in poor neighborhoods: Can Cities Afford to Trust Walmart? by Kriston Capps (CityLab)
Extra credit:
This video is shown to all "associates" at on-boarding: it's imperative that everyone working for Wal-Mart understands that s/he is "better off" without a union.
The parody t-shirt at the top of this post and other merchandise is available from Reclaim Democracy!: "Reclaim Democracy! is dedicated to restoring democratic authority over corporations, reviving grassroots democracy, and establishing appropriate limits on corporate influence. We work for systemic change, instead of reacting to corporate agendas."
On the Democratic candidates and the credibility gap
"Having learned from 2008, she's got the best ground operation in the history of Iowa caucuses that still may rescue her there. But she's sinking rapidly against a 73-year-old political maverick who is still just introducing himself to the American people."
The question is: Why is that so?
The rest of the story:
As Panic Grips Clinton Campaign, The Real Question: What's Wrong with Hillary? by Robert Borosage (Common Dreams)
The question is: Why is that so?
The rest of the story:
As Panic Grips Clinton Campaign, The Real Question: What's Wrong with Hillary? by Robert Borosage (Common Dreams)
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