We are all the 99%

Today is UNITED FOR #GLOBALCHANGE

 

It’s thrilling! The demand for justice  and fairness is
spreading all over the country & all over the world! Be part of it!

Not Your Father’s NYC

Great article about how the corporate zeitgeist has destroyed the artistic & intellectual bent in NY.

And get your Occupied Wall Street Journal 1st edition here!

And one more hideous if not unexpected development. Right wing operatives have deliberately intervened in DC’s Occupy Wall Street protest to precipitate violence & discredit the non-violent movement: Conservative Magazine Brags of its Agent Provocateur’s Role in Provoking Police Action in D.C.

Allons enfants…

If you are not watching the #occupywallstreet live stream, you are missing so much! The reinvention of small “d” democracy, civics, GA’s (General Assemblies), personal involvement, the Greek style chorus, reverence for “The Commons.” It’s impressive & brings tears to my eyes.

Don’t listen to the critics. Something significant is happening. And it’s spreading all over the country.

Watch, Get involved, support the protesters.

Lee Camp

 

Chris Hedges

Let there be Sunlight

“…Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants…”
                                                                               -Louis D. Brandeis

On July 5th, Amy Goodman sat down in London with Wikileaks Editor Julian Assange & Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Žižek for a riveting must-see discussion about the impact of WikiLeaks.  After watching the discussion it’s clear how profoundly superficial the usual media coverage has been.

“From being inside the center of the storm, I’ve learned not just about the structure of government, not just about how power flows in many countries around the world that we’ve dealt with, but rather how history is shaped and distorted by the media,” Assange said.

Here is a link to the full video & transcript.

So important to watch this and make up your own mind!

You might also read Glenn Greenwald’s The War on WikiLeaks and why it matters and his most recent post about the unredacted cable dump Facts and Myths in the WikiLeaks/Guardian Saga.

Happy 4th, time to take our country back from Corporations!

Today, Democracy Now! live steamed Amy Goodman moderating a forum from London with WikiLeaks Editor-In-Chief Julian Assange and Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Žižek. It was incredible and important. I hope they will post the video so that more people can see it. The important takeaways in the words of  Žižek: “you can no longer deny that you know” and the conversation and free exchange of information between all people from Assange. I will post a link here if/when it’s available online.

NOT my America

Nicole Sandler called in to Thom Hartmann’s radio program yesterday and described the unbelievably horrible treatment she was given while in prison. At one point she was locked into a closet with a few people while the cell was being cleaned and was literally forgotten about! When she complained about the treatment, they punitively put her in solitary confinement for several hours! And, even worse, when she complained about being in solitary confinement, she was maced! A ridiculous travesty. The Bradley Manning treatment is happening at every level. You are now guilty until proven innocent – IF you ever have a chance to prove you are innocent.

For more about Sandler’s arrest:

Talk show host Nicole Sandler arrested at tea party Rep’s town hall

and her own account on her show blog with links to her internet show:

Allen West is a Coward

We all thought this kind of excessive police brutality would stop once the Bushies were out of office, but, unfortunately, we were sadly mistaken.

Up from Monopoly Capitalism

VERY. IMPORTANT. ARTICLE. By Michael Lind, Salon:

Are the American people obsolete?

The richest few don’t need the rest of us as markets, soldiers or police anymore….

I’ve actually been saying something like this for a while now, although not as articulately. I believe it is these issues that are driving the citizens’ discontent from both the right and the left. If only we could talk to each other, identify the problem and take our country back from the brink!  As long as our legislators don’t need us either, we are doomed.

This marks a historic change in the relationship between capital and labor in the U.S. The robber barons of the late 19th century generally lived near the American working class and could be threatened by strikes and frightened by the prospect of revolution. But rioting Chinese workers are not going to burn down New York City or march on the Hamptons.

What about markets? Many U.S. multinationals that have transferred production to other countries continue to depend on an American mass market. But that, too, may be changing. American consumers are tapped out, and as long as they are paying down their debts from the bubble years, private household demand for goods and services will grow slowly at best in the United States. In the long run, the fastest-growing consumer markets, like the fastest-growing labor markets, may be found in China, India and other developing countries.

RIP AIR AMERICA – The Diaspora Will Continue!

There are quite a few progressive talk stations still on the air and being run successfully. The important thing is to support them, especially now that AAR is gone and now that the corporations can pour unlimited funds into politics.

Progressive stations exist in Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Madison, WI, San Francisco, CA, Anchora, AK, Los Angeles, CA, Monterey, CA, Chicago, IL,Minnesota, Northampton, MA, Boston, MA (it took us 2 1/2 years to get a new independent progressive station back on the air after our Clear Channel affiliate was canceled back in 2006 after the election. And btw, the existence of AAR and progressive talk radio in general had a huge role in activating progressives and taking the Congress blue which is why Clear Channel started canceling stations all over in late 2006 & early 2007), there’s even a new channel in Maine supported by Stephen King, XM/Sirius Channel 167 (and Randi Rhodes on 165 3-6pm), and Marc Maron has his own  ”WTF” podcasts now. Ring of Fire will get syndication and continue as well.

Now you can even stream some of these stations from your i-phone and blackberry as well as from your computer.

If you hear loads of advertising, that is a GOOD thing as it pays the bills!

I miss some of the great shows and talent from AAR, particularly Morning Seditionand Sam Seder…
Al Franken’s in the Senate and Rachel Maddow’s show – not to be missed- is on MSNBC!

So, RIP Air America! But let us all continue to support the progressive media still out there!

RIP Teddy: “The Dream Shall Never Die”

“If by ‘Liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”- Senator Edward M. Kennedy

“For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.” - Senator Edward M. Kennedy

It’s The Media, Stupid!

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.”
Adlai E. Stevenson

An important article by Robert Parry over at consortium news Why the Right’s Propaganda Works

“Many on the Left are blaming President Barack Obama and middle-of-the-road Democrats for maneuvering health-care reform into a fast-approaching head-on collision. And some of that criticism is well deserved for foolishly letting Republicans get their hands on the wheel at all.

But American liberals and progressives – especially the wealthy ones – should take a hard look in the mirror when assessing blame. For three decades now, the Left has sat back and done next to nothing to build a media infrastructure while the Right has put together a truly powerful media machine.”

Some of us, in fighting for local progressive media outlets, have continually hit our heads against the wall after approaching those with money or influence to help us, only to be turned away again and again and told it’s unnecessary!

When we asked for help at procuring a local radio outlet they were only interested in the “new, sexy” media… the internet. When we said that the demographic we need to reach doesn’t use the internet, it fell on deaf ears!

After the ’06 elections I sat in my congressperson’s office and listened to his top Aide tell me “What are you worried about? we have the congress now!” Robert Parry correctly calls this Magical Thinking! When said Aide left a few months later for a job with a big oil company in Texas (& my congressman is considered one of the pre-eminent liberals in a leadership position in Washington) it helped underscore the problem of corporate control and influence in government, media, and frankfully, almost everything else. Given Obama’s internet savvy and understanding of organizing the grassroots, I have been surprised at how toned deaf the whole healthcare strategy has been! The administration has continually let the rightwing frame and control the entire debate. Something has got to change! The White  House has launched another fact checking site, but it may be too little, too late:SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Again, they need. to. control. the. audio. media. message!

Tell Obama that the public option is not optional.  Please sign (credoaction).

Robert Reich calls for ‘march on Washington’ in support of public option
Again, if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it…?!

“…an effective communication system should have been built. Not for dictating what to say, but for creating a system of effectively trained spokespeople, who can get the basic progressive values out there every day to compete with the very effective conservative system. It should not work issue by issue, but in addition to the issues of the day; it should promote general values that apply to all issues.

The elements are all in existence. The money is there. Indeed it would be a lot cheaper to build than spending tens of millions of dollars on health care ads. What it would accomplish is laying the groundwork in advance of any particular issue. The work of such a communication system would be to activate ideas already there in the millions of citizens who have progressive as well as conservative worldviews in their brain circuitry. The idea would be to make progressive ideas stronger and conservative ideas weaker, balancing what the conservative communication system is doing now.

It is rather late in the game for the stimulus, cap and trade and health care, but better late than never. And it would be indispensable for future policy campaigns. Framing a powerful message is a lot easier when the groundwork for it has already been laid. Without the groundwork, it is much harder.”
- George Lakoff
The Policy-Speak Disaster for Health Care

Wendell Potter: Is Obama Planning to Sign Congress’ Health Care Reform Bill with Lipstick?

Former Governor Don Siegelman has launched a new online campaign: www.FireRovesProsecutors.com, “dedicated to seeing those Rove-vetted U.S. Attorneys and appointees still poisoning the Department of Justice removed from their positions — ending their ability to threaten our democracy.”

Contact the President’s Senior Adviser, Valerie Jarrett, today. Tell the President it’s time to remove Rove’s cabal in the Justice Department!

Rove Op-Ed Reveals He Had Inside Information About Probe Larisa Alexandrovna 8/20/09