Environment: We Seriously Need a Green New Deal

There is environmental action being done this week and it is high time this takes center stage and stays there. Instead we have an executive branch in Washington DC that is trying to roll back what environmental protection / laws we have. If for no other reason (and there ARE lots of others IMHO), we must Dump Trump and his ilk. Complicit Republican legislators must not be forgiven for supporting him. (Burn the GOP lifeboats, per Driftglass and Blue Gal of the Professional Left podcast.)

Who is Bernie Sanders? Watch:

This 9:07 minute mini-documentary on Senator Bernie Sanders from YouTube's The Daily Conversation deserves to be given more play and will answer some of the questions of my friends who wonder about his background and why I support him for President of the United States of America in 2016. #FeelTheBern

Sanders announces, People respond

Great to see Senator Bernie Sanders enter the race of President. Announcing last week, Bernie received $1.5 million from 35,000 donors in the first 24 hours and people ARE responding. He appeared on Maddow Monday evening:

Venting re Republican (In)action

Thom Hartmann has been venting this week on the deliberate and harmful Republican obstructionism in Congress and I reposted on Facebook a Jimmy Carter quote, "If you don't want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values, because you don't." I followed up by venting in a reply comment and it needs more airing. So I re-vent here:

The Republican politicians have created havoc in Congress -- nothing is being done to help ordinary people or our environment. But the polls show only 49 percent of the people know they are in charge of the House and probably fewer know they are obstructing the Senate. The GOP expect the Dems will be blamed by voters for most of our country's problems and sadly they are probably correct. Meanwhile our citizens see their jobs shipped overseas while companies continue to get tax breaks for this. The Dems tried to reverse this and the GOPS stopped it. They are playing politics and people are starving and our environment is being decimated. Scary times. Not Christian and not ethical.

First Ladies for Presidents' Day Weekend

TO WATCH AND ENJOY AND LEARN: Thanks to the recommendation of my dear cousin, Jean Keegan, I've been enjoying the C-Span's First Lady series presented on the web with a huge amount of additional historical material. Great way to spend some time over PRESIDENTS' DAY Weekend:http://firstladies.c-span.org/Default.aspx 

My thanks to Susan Swain for emceeing this great program. Follow her on twitter: https://twitter.com/cspanSusan 

Tweet Congress

Thanks to #Uppers Lindy Rose a/k/a @LindyRose1 for passing along this link of twitter handles for 113th Congress members, blogged by Adi at the StuffThought blog. This is an awesome tool for activists.

John Fugelsang: 'I stand with Rand — but not all of his plan'

The Seuss-ified gospel according to John Fugelsang re Rand Paul and his somewhat hypocritical filabuster.

Organizing for America 11-04-12

Organizing for America 11-04-12
Originally uploaded by Kate Anne

I was happy to join with other volunteers to make calls to Ohio in support of President Obama and Senator Sherrod Brown. Tony Smolenski (seen here with me) was one of the energetic organizers. I was so impressed with Tony and his great team. I truly enjoyed calling and spoke with some great folks. The photo here is from my Sunday stint at the Long Island City, NY, office but I worked about 8.5 hours (following voting in Sunnyside, which took over 70 minutes -- a record!) on Election Day. See Election Day Flickr photos.

Comment re FOX

Considering the manufactured brouhaha over "Fast and Furious", I think instead of FOX so-called News, as Thom Hartmann refers to them, it is high time we start saying FOX Propaganda Network. [also posted to my Facebook page]

FDR: On Monopoly threatening Liberty

Unhappy events abroad have retaught us two simple truths about the liberty of a democratic people.

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.

The second truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if its business system does not provide employment and produce and distribute goods in such a way as to sustain an acceptable standard of living.

Both lessons hit home.

Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing.

This concentration is seriously impairing the economic effectiveness of private enterprise as a way of providing employment for labor and capital and as a way of assuring a more equitable distribution of income and earnings among the people of the nation as a whole.

~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt [FDR], Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies, April 29, 1938

With thanks to a photo-lead from @The_Anti_Fox on Twitter. Read more at the American Presidency Project: Franklin D. Roosevelt: Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15637#ixzz1pTJnso3L

Agribusiness Fights to Allow Children to Work in Manure Pits

Lee Fang was a guest on Thom Hartmann today. Republic Report is his new gig and we should be sure to check in on a regular basis. This article is but one fascinating example from the site: Agribusiness Fights to Allow Children to Work in Manure Pits. They are for getting the corrupting influence of money OUT of politics. More info also at United Republic and by following them on Twitter as @unitedrep.

"Vote Republican" by Roy Zimmerman

I wish all those even THINKING of voting Republican would listen to Roy Zimmerman's humorous modern political folk song. It was posted to YouTube in October of 2010 but is so appropriate to what is going on now politically. Do yourself a favor and watch and share this. Maybe we'll wake up enough people to stave off the Republicans in November.

FYI, you can follow Roy Zimmerman on both Facebook and Twitter. My thanks to radio host Norman Goldman for sharing this on his show and on Facebook.

10 things Republicans do to hurt Americans

10 things Republicans do to hurt Americans:

1. Bring Back “Pre-Existing Conditions”

2. Kick Grandma Off Medicare & Give Her a Coupon

3. Hand Over Cash to the Wealthy

4. Rip Away Workers’ Rights

5. Prevent You From Voting

6. Declare War on Women

7. Shove Gay Soldiers Back Into the Closet

8. Launch Assaults on Sesame Street and Lake Wobegon

9. Let Consumers Fend For Themselves

10. Increase Taxes for Middle Class Families.

-- Astutely listed by Dan Jacoby

Howard Dean at DFNYC fundraiser TUESDAY

Yes, Howard Dean is the special guest Tuesday 11/15/11 -- 

6:30 pm - 9 pm

Chelsea Manor

138 West 25th Street (between 6th and 7th Aves)

New York, NY

Democracy for NYC Celebrates 

The Rebirth Of The People's Voice

With Howard Dean and Jim Dean 

With Special Guest Norman Siegel. 

DFNYC Will Be Presenting A Special Award To 

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. 

More info at DFNYC.org and/or RSVP on Facebook.

Yes you can pay in advance and toss some $$$ in the kitty

even if you cannot make it.

This is a fundraiser for a good group. 

Hope to see you there!

Weiner Follow-Up

For those not privy to my Facebook page or yet a fan of BlueRootsRadio.com, I just posted this Note on Facebook:

Amidst supportive and hateful comments, I just posted this into an open thread on the Facebook political page of Representative Anthony Weiner concerning the Conflicted Justice Clarence Thomas:

BlueRootsRadio.com compiled a lot of great Tweet retorts within the June 6th comments under the more compelling (for the American people) Wisconsin Tent City story which the corporate media will drown out by news of Weiner. See: http://bluerootsradio.com/?p=6330#comments - One of the consistent great tweeters was @theBradBlog who also retweeted another singular tweet: @DCdebbie: "BREAKING: A second dick picture emerges from #Weinergate revealing something the media has never before reported on http://yfrog.com/edk9p7j" Apt.

I then added this follow-up comment to my Facebook Note:

My thanks to Christopher Johnson and Toni DiPego and their bloggers for their work on BlueRootsRadio.com, a great home for roots music and progressive information and dialog.

Am saddened by the tragic flaw(s) of Representative Anthony Weiner but love me my BlueRootsRadio! It sustains my spirit when all else fails.

Deregulation

Senator Bernie Sanders astutely asks questions about deregulation of Jacob Lew, the president's nominee to head the White House Office of Management and Budget. Despite his questionable response to the deregulation question during the hearing of the Senate Budget Committee, the panel unanimously voted to confirm him. Go figure, but Lew, a former Citigroup executive, did serve under Clinton who ran a budget surplus. Whether this helps remains to be seen, but at least Bernie asked the hard questions.

Murray Hill Incorporated is Running for Congress

"Murray Hill Inc. plans on filing to run in the Republican primary in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District. Campaign Manager William Klein promises an aggressive, historic campaign that “puts people second” or even third." A quick 1-1/4 minute WOW -- Both Thom Hartmann and Nicole Sandler featured this on their shows. Murray Hill Incorporated communicates their values well -- through well done mockery of Citizens United v. FEC. (1709 views as I post this but it deserves to go viral.)

Rachel Maddow - outrageous corporate thuggery behind anti-health care 'activists'

The average middle class millionaires and lobbyists of RecessRalley.com ralleying people against healthcare reform are uncovered -- proving once more that this isn't grassroots but astroturf, and those little guys buying in and spreading the mission are crabgrass [thanks, Dan Jacoby!]. Outrageous indeed!

UPDATE: RecessRalley.com either got too many hits and/or has been shut down, thanks to Rachel Maddow shedding light on the average middle class millionaires behind the town hall hijacking. I've had fun googling RecessRalley.com. Thanks, FireDogLake.com for posting Rachel's video so quickly.

End the Death Penalty

"We should not waste one instant, one day, one cent, one dime serving death."
- Gov. Martin O'Malley, (D) Maryland

Gov. O'Malley spoke out on his stand on Rachel Maddow's show last night as he continues to work to end the death penalty. Rachel noted the governor is part of Celtic Rock band, O'Malley's March.

Sen.Sanders: Private Health Care Companies are NOT about Supplying Healthcare

Senator Bernie Sanders has this right. Insurance companies are about profit, not healthcare. They deny needed services and put road blocks in the way of those they purport to serve. We must get the profit motive out of healthcare. Make a living, yes, but not a killing!

"The function of healthcare is not to make insurance companies rich. It's to provide the best quality healthcare at the lowest possible price to all of our people." -- Senator Bernie Sanders, on Thom Hartmann, 03/27/09