Vitter blackmails Salazar

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/david-vitter_n_1393429.html

WASHINGTON — Sen. David Vitter undermined public trust when he blocked a raise for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar unless he issued more deep-water exploratory drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill, the Senate ethics committee said in a letter released Friday.

The committee called the Louisiana Republican's actions unprecedented but spared him charges of rules violations because no guidance had been issued on such a tactic.

In a statement Friday, Vitter said the committee had validated his action by dismissing the complaint and that he was glad he had "killed Ken Salazar's salary increase – he has completely failed us on energy policy."

Deportee Cisco Houston Woody Guthrie

The deportees were illegal Mexican immigrants that went down in the plane.

Scott Brown took in 200,000 from the oil industry and then voted to let them keep their free government subsidies (aka handouts)

Scott Brown Attacked By Democrats, Called Friend Of 'Big Oil' As Gas Prices Rise

Democrats note that the industry has pumped nearly $200,000 into Brown's campaign. The industry's main lobbying group also ran ads recently urging voters to ask Brown to oppose measures the industry said would raise taxes on energy producers.

Brown defended his vote, saying ending subsidies won't bring down gas prices. He said the bill was designed to help Democrats craft political ads instead of addressing the nation's energy woes.

"If you want to have a conversation about our tax code and subsidies that entities are getting, sure let's have that, but let's have that as part of an overall reform and review policy, not just pitting up things for commercials in November," Brown said Friday after touring a fire station in Boston.

Scott Brown with his employer one of the Koch Brothers. Votes like these are what makes him into a Koch nephew.

CIA Secret Prison: Polish Leaders Break Silence About Black Site

CIA Secret Prison: Polish Leaders Break Silence About Black Site

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday that Poland has become the "political victim" of leaks from U.S. officials that brought to light aspects of the secret rendition program.

In his most forthcoming comments on the matter to date, Tusk said an ongoing investigation into the case is proof of Poland's democratic credentials and that Poland cannot be counted on in the future in such clandestine enterprises.

"Poland will no longer be a country where politicians – even if they are working arm-in-arm with the world's greatest superpower – could make some deal somewhere under the table and then it would never see daylight," said Tusk, who took office four years after the site was shuttered.

"Poland is a democracy where national and international law must be observed," Tusk said. "This issue must be explained. Let there be no doubt about it either in Poland or on the other side of the ocean."

This ruling could be the beginning of shedding light on the people buying democracy

Koch Brothers, Chamber of Commerce Face Possible Campaign Donation Disclosure After Ruling

WASHINGTON -- On Friday evening, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling that could begin the process of revealing the identities of secret donors to groups connected to Karl Rove and the Koch brothers.

The court ruled in Van Hollen v. Federal Election Commission that the FEC rules that restricted campaign donor disclosure are not valid and must be changed to provide for disclosure.

"We are very happy to see the judge got it right," says Paul Ryan, a lawyer for the Campaign Legal Center, a campaign finance watchdog that was a part of the team challenging the FEC rules.

Those rules state that donors to groups spending money on "electioneering communications," or advertisements that do not specifically call to elect or defeat a candidate, must only be disclosed if they specifically earmarked their donation to that particular expenditure. Since few, if any, donors to these groups ever earmark their donation for a specific election expense there was no disclosure.

We need to get Kucinich back interesting exchange with Governor Scott Walker

The Maddow Blog - Paul Ryan's unbridled chutzpah on defense spending

The Maddow Blog - Paul Ryan's unbridled chutzpah on defense spending

"We don't think the generals are giving us their true advice," Ryan said during a forum on the budget sponsored by the National Journal. "We don't think the generals believe their budget is really the right budget." [...]

He went on to say that while there were certainly inefficiencies that could be reduced in the Pentagon's budget, fighting wars in the Middle East and a "dangerous world" necessitated keeping defense spending level.

...First, Ryan is ostensibly someone who's eager to slash every possible public investment. Indeed, he believes spending has to be brutally cut to the bone to prevent some kind of looming "debt crisis," And yet, given the chance to cut nearly a half-trillion in spending over the next decade, the right-wing Wisconsinite has suddenly discovered he disapproves of budget cuts after all. (Ryan wants to increase defense spending, even while cutting everything else.) If the cuts don't hurt working families, he's apparently not interested.

Second, let's not forget that the Pentagon wants these budget cuts. It's not as if there's a dispute between the White House and the brass, and Ryan is siding with the latter. Instead, Ryan is looking for budget cuts; the Pentagon is recommending some; and the Budget Committee chairman prefers to ignore the recommendations.

Third, notice that Ryan is effectively accusing U.S. military leaders of lying to Congress about the resources necessary to keep the nation safe. I wonder what the reaction would be if a House Democrat did that.

And finally, there's the biggest, most jaw-dropping angle of them all: Paul Ryan, who has never served in the military a day in his life, believes he knows better than the U.S. military leadership what funding levels are needed to "keep people safe."

military expert Paul Ryan he just knows

Robert Reich on Wall Street

Romney can live with the ‘Etch A Sketch’ gaffe, but not without the guy who said it - Talking Politics

Romney can live with the ‘Etch A Sketch’ gaffe, but not without the guy who said it - Talking Politics

Romney and Eric Fehrnstrom

That's why I and other longtime Romney watchers shrugged off declarations by some pundits — and even a few Republican notables — that Fehrnstrom would have to be fired after last week's Etch A Sketch gaffe.

Fehrnstrom had handed political manna to his boss's enemies, by declaring in a CNN interview that conservative positions taken during the nomination campaign could be erased "like an Etch A Sketch" before the general election.

Romney didn't so much as publicly rebuke Fehrnstrom. After roughly 24 hours on the bench, the feisty 51-year-old was back on Twitter, mocking the overreaction: "Etch A Sketch stock is up? Psst, I'll mention Mr. Potato Head next. Buy Hasbro."

That Tweet is classic Fehrnstrom — brash, self-assured, funny, fearless, and perfectly designed to grab a media narrative by the horns and yank it in another direction.

Few other political operatives are capable of Fehrnstrom-level ballsy hostility, and that's precisely why Romney can't ever get rid of him. Because that is exactly what the hot-tempered, manipulative, controlling, and combative Romney would do himself, if he didn't have to protect his image as the candidate.

LP - Very Interesting article from local paper.


Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/136368-romney-can-live-with-the-‘etch-a-sketch-gaffe-bu/#ixzz1qeQCrmHn

My Adventures In Republican World

The South might have rejected Romney; but truthfully did they really have any choice. Romney was really picked for them, anointed by the Republican power structure and now who's who in Republican establishment is coming out of the wood work to say that he's already been chosen now get out of the way. At the end of the day and come November, the Republican power brokers know that " Mr. Etch a Sketch" will get the nod in the south over a Kenyan Muslim Socialist from Hawaii.

It really doesn't matter that the people picking Romney are all from states that he won't carry in the fall, part of a contingent or a dying tribe of Yankees too unpopular  to carry  their own region  into the Republican camp. It also doesn't matter that Mitt's campaign manager basically came out and said, "We have to say this shit to get elected but don't worry we really don't mean it. We just have to say enough to get enough of you crazies to vote for us."

They know that what matters in the fall is that a candidate has a little R next to his name and not that they have any core convictions. Santorum is losing, swamped by a Tsunami of money (50 to 1 in Wisconsin). If you want the nomination all's you have to prove is your opponent is even a bigger slime than you - and it doesn't really matter if it has any lasting effect only that sews enough doubt for one day in a voting cycle: election day. Then afterwards they're stuck with this person and can blame them for really being too liberal. Romney's victory in the Republican primary is a straight up victory for buying nominations. The only difference is that it would be much cheaper if it came with a price tag rather than having the spending be open ended.

Newt is dead in the water and he seems to be the only person who doesn't know it. This is a man that loves the camera. Newt loves to think he's a great thinker, so far his best idea seems to be: little kid janitors on the moon. It is only a question of which has more girth Gingrich's ego or his head.

The biggest surprise of this election cycle has been the passivity of Ron Paul and his lack of the rabid constituency that we heard so much about. It is in some ways like he and Mitt Romney have some kind of deal worked out and, whatever you think of Paul, if that is the case it violates everything he supposedly stands for.

Meanwhile Rick Santorum, Romney's principle rival who has beaten Romney in nearly every solidly Republican state, even though he alienates every other voting block on a weekly basis other than white christian males. He insults blacks, alienates women, and tells everyone in Puerta Rico that they need to learn to speak English and still Romney struggles with him. Part of this is the fact Santorum didn't bother to read the owner's manual before he ran for president and as a result he has managed to eliminate whole counties from his delegate count or, as is the case with Virginia, a whole state.

And in the middle of this the Republican Supreme Court wades into the fray with their activist law books blazing. Many of them are the same legal scholars who gave us that brilliant Bush vs. Gore decision: a decision that not only overturned an election but also said that the decision only applied to this particular case and only to particular people named Gore and Bush, and could never be used in future cases. Then when the election was handed to Bush - the party aggrieved by the fact he would have lost the election if  the ballots were counted  - the media was quick to want to move on. Nothing to see here. Beside the endless coverage of the attempted to stolen elections in the Ukraine easily overshadowed what was happening in Washington. A few wars and a few trillion dollars of debt later, many of those same wise old justices are back at it again. They are still in good physical condition taking full advantage of their government mandated health care as they make sure that millions of Americans have the liberty to die rather than be cared for. They are making sure this sick captive nation remains imprisoned to the health care industry. And some people thought they were kidding about death panels.

But the last burning question that all America really wants to know is whether Mitt Romney's taxes should be half of everyone else's or if it needs to be lowered. Maybe the Supreme Court could impart some of their wisdom onto this as well.

Portions Of Scott Walker's Anti-Union Law Struck Down By Federal Court

Portions Of Scott Walker's Anti-Union Law Struck Down By Federal Court

WASHINGTON -- Just over a year after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed a measure taking away most collective bargaining rights for public workers, labor unions scored a victory as a federal court struck down portions of the law. The court ruled that the state cannot prevent public sector unions from automatically deducting dues from workers' paychecks and cannot require them to be recertified annually.

The law, known as Act 10, requires most public sector unions to hold annual votes on whether a majority of its members want to recertify the union. It also took away the rights of some unions to automatically collect dues from members' paychecks.

The court kept most of the law in place, but it ruled that the state did not have the power to pick and choose which unions could deduct dues. Under Act 10, only "public safety unions" -- those representing firefighters and police officers -- could continue to take out payments automatically.

LP - Follow this up by throwing the bum out with his rotten law.

If The Supreme Court Strikes Down The Affordable Care Act, The Conservative Justices Will Do Lasting Damage To The Institution's Legitimacy | The New Republic

If The Supreme Court Strikes Down The Affordable Care Act, The Conservative Justices Will Do Lasting Damage To The Institution's Legitimacy | The New Republic

Before this week, the well-being of tens of millions of Americans was at stake in the lawsuits challenging the Affordable Care Act.

Now something else is at stake, too: The legitimacy of the Supreme Court.

Nobody knows how the justices will rule. And nobody can know, not even the justices themselves. On Friday morning, perhaps by the time you read this, they will meet privately to take their first vote. More often than not, this first vote determines the final verdict. But there are exceptions and Anthony Kennedy, on whose decision the outcome presumably depends, has a reputation for long deliberation and changes of heart—particularly in major cases like this one.

That’s good. With the result apparently in doubt—smart money still says the chances of the full law surviving are about 50-50—Kennedy should think long and hard about how he wants the Court to rule. So should Chief Justice John Roberts, who appeared more skeptical of the government’s case during oral arguments but nevertheless indicated that he, like Kennedy, understood the government’s premise—that health care was a special market, perhaps requiring special intervention.

If that concern is not enough to sway the chief justice, than perhaps his frequently professed concern for the court’s respectability will.

Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan: That's Amore

People & Power - The Koch Brothers

Excellent piece.

Big oil money buys oil subsidies and some call this corruption

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Susie in the Big Easy- Post Louisiana Primary!

Mass Uniting target the etch a sketch senator Scott Brown for subsidizing the largest oil companies

SOUTH BOSTON, MA – Fed-up consumers gathered outside US Senator Scott Brown’s campaign headquarters in South Boston today, as constituent outrage continues to build over Brown’s vote to send billions in taxpayer funds to the world’s most profitable Big Oil companies. In a 51-47 vote, Brown sided with his Republican colleagues in maintaining the tax giveaways – again putting the interests of major corporations ahead of the people of Massachusetts.

Chanting “Scott Brown, he’s the worst – he put big oil’s interests first,” demonstrators rallied outside the Summer Street campaign office, carrying large gasoline cans – each marking one numeral of the $137 billion dollars in profits posted by Big Oil companies in 2011. The top five Big Oil firms – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell – are amongst the most profitable corporations in the world, reporting nearly one trillion dollars in profits over the last ten years. Despite these record profits, Scott Brown has continued to support policies that send billions of taxpayer dollars to Big Oil companies – voting in favor of the tax giveaways three times in as many years.i Brown’s vote today ensures these Big Oil firms will receive another $24 billion in taxpayer funds over the next decade.

“The Big Oil companies are already crushing us with their record gas prices,” said Carlos Pagan, who commutes to his Boston-based job from Quincy. “How can Scott Brown justify sending billions more of our hard-earned dollars to these predatory companies?”

This is a hoot: Target Anti-Union Ad Stars Union Members

Those esteemed justices don't want any competition when it comes to free coverage

Childhood janitor calls out former speaker of house and recipient of plenty of business largesse

"American Skin (41 Shots)" Live in Tampa, FL 03/23/12

In honor of Trayvon Martin in Tampa

Unions welcome chance to campaign against Mitt Romney and all that he represents

Unions welcome chance to campaign against Mitt Romney and all that he represents

The New York Times' Steven Greenhouse identifies a fundamental truth about Mitt Romney: though he would likely be tougher than Rick Santorum for President Obama to defeat, many of the people who would be tasked with defeating him would kind of enjoy the task. Greenhouse lines up a series of union leaders and staffers talking about their eagerness to campaign against Romney. Reasons include wanting to use him to open a discussion of locust capitalism:

“Do we welcome doing battle with him over his past as a businessman? You bet,” said Tim Waters, political director of the United Steelworkers. “We’re already talking to folks about what happened in his years at Bain — how they closed all these factories and people’s lives were destroyed by this kind of vulture capitalism.”

Romney's constant rich-guy gaffes also offer unions an opportunity to establish, even with working-class people struggling in this economy, that he emphatically does not feel their pain:

“Right off the bat we see that Romney has problems relating to workers because he’s part of the 1 percent,” Mr. Trumka said. “Every time he opens his mouth it comes out that he’s about the upper class. He doesn’t understand workers because he’s never around us.”

pics on Sodahead

John Nichols: Fighting Back Against Austerity

Elizabeth Warren: "What Wall Street wants is Etch A Sketch Senators."

Excellent comment.

US Media picks and chooses facts and they always come down for war

Mitt Romney Tells 'Humorous' Story About Father Closing A Michigan Factory

Mitt Romney Tells 'Humorous' Story About Father Closing A Michigan Factory

One of [the] most humorous I think relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors. ... They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin. Now later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign.

Romney's anecdote was no doubt meant to appeal to the voters of Wisconsin, who were the beneficiaries of the factory shutdown, but joking about laying off workers is a risk during tough economic times.

...David Shepardson, the DC bureau chief of the Detroit News, noted on Twitter that George Romney's decision to "close the Hudson plants on Detroit's East Side in 1954 cos[t] 4,300 workers their jobs."

In Massachusetts stop the corporate take over of Massachusetts schools

Stand for Children Ballot Question

If an outside group gets its way, the rights of Massachusetts teachers will be up for a vote this November. Stand for Children, which has amassed millions of dollars thanks to corporate donors like Walmart and Bain Capital, says that it wants “a great teacher in every classroom.” Who could be against that? But the Stand for Children ballot initiative is an assault on the rights of teachers and will actually make it harder for teachers to advocate for their students.

Read AFT MA’s summary of the ballot initiative and how its passage could impact you.

Opposition is Growing
A growing body of education leaders and organizations has come out in opposition to the ballot initiative. Opponents now include: Massachusetts Education Secretary Paul Reville, the Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators’ Association, the Massachusetts Elementary School Principals Association, the Massachusetts Reading Association, the Massachusetts Association of College and University Reading Educators, the Massachusetts School Library Association, the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies and the Massachusetts Administrators for Special Education.

Who is Stand for Children?
While Stand for Children once advocated for more funding for public schools and students today the organization is leading a full-scale assault against teachers in our public schools. Stand for Children claims to be a grassroots organization that stands for access to quality education for all students but the organization is increasingly controversial. Today Stand for Children receives vast amounts of corporate money and is aggressively pushing an ideologically-driven brand of ‘education reform.’ Hear their agenda for yourself. In this video, Stand for Children co-founder Jonah Edelman talks openly about his goal of undermining teachers’ unions.

Bobby Rush Gets Kicked Off House Floor For Wearing Hoodie For Trayvon

Afraid of a hoodie how can they hope to stand up to Iran.

Cold School: Romney drags skeletons out of 70's closet

RPT-COLUMN-An end to phones in every home? David Cay Johnston | Reuters

RPT-COLUMN-An end to phones in every home? David Cay Johnston | Reuters

Reuters) - The guarantee of landline telephone service at almost any address, a legal right many Americans may not even know they have, is quietly being legislated away in our U.S. state capitals.

AT&T and Verizon, the dominant telephone companies, want to end their 99-year-old universal service obligation known as "provider of last resort." They say universal landline service is a costly and unfair anachronism that is no longer justified because of a competitive market for voice services.

The new rules AT&T and Verizon drafted would enhance profits by letting them serve only the customers they want. Their focus, and that of smaller phone companies that have the same universal service obligation, is on well-populated areas where people can afford profitable packages that combine telephone, Internet and cable television.

Sprint, T-Mobile and the cell phone divisions of AT&T and Verizon are not subject to universal service and can serve only those areas they find profitable.

Unless the new rules are written very carefully, millions of people, urban and rural, will lose basic telephone service or be forced to pay much more for calls.

Is anyone still there?

Conservatives are destroying Ben Franklin's best invention - The Post Of...

John Steinbeck: A History of the 1930sThrough his Stories

A good little history on Steinbeck. He was also often considered a traitor to the Anglos in California until he died and people could make a buck off him.

Dorothea Lang's Famed Photo of a California Migrant Mother

This was back in the day when the government and those who worked for it weren't a dirty word. Dorothea Lange who captured some of the most iconic images of that time was paid by the government to capture the story of what was going on in California.

A very dangerous man

Curtis Mayfield - People Get Ready - #8

For late night

Ron Paul Supporters Attempt To Explain Freedom-Based Discrimination

Just amazing how kids can know so much about the 1780s and so much about today and nothing in between. In the south they should have gathered all the people who were lynching people in the south to close down businesses in the south that wouldn't serve black Americans. They are just so sincere and incredibly naive to their own country's history.

Walker Responds : "Certainly not aware of that"

It look like the rats are leaving the ship, leaving only the king rat on the ship.

Should Supreme Court Find Insurance Mandate Unconstitutional?

Massachusetts explaining budget cuts and debt. What will be left? Just to make sure Bill Gates doesn't have a tax cut

What the Castle Doctrine & ALEC have to do with Trayvon Martin

It's just a good thing O'Reilly wasn't packing

Romney, Santorum Supporters To Beat Living Shit Out Of Each Other At Mon...

Banking "Technocrats" Undermine Democracy. How long until democracy is canceled all together?

The History Blog » Blog Archive » The centennial of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire

The History Blog » Blog Archive » The centennial of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire

It was one hundred and one years ago there was a fire that brought in the progressive era.

The Big Money Behind State Laws - NYTimes.com##

The Big Money Behind State Laws - NYTimes.com##

The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by the right-wing activist Paul Weyrich; its big funders include Exxon Mobil, the Olin and Scaife families and foundations tied to Koch Industries. Many of the largest corporations are represented on its board.

¶ALEC has written model legislation on a host of subjects dear to corporate and conservative interests, and supporting lawmakers have introduced these bills in dozens of states. A recent study of the group’s impact in Virginia showed that more than 50 of its bills were introduced there, many practically word for word. The study, by the liberal group ProgressVA, found that ALEC had been involved in writing bills that would:

¶¶Prohibit penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.

¶¶Require voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both chambers this month.

¶¶Encourage school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The bill was signed into law.

¶¶Call for a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.

¶¶Legalize use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle Association, a longtime member of ALEC

see the people buying the US government: http://www.alec.org/

At long last, Michelle Rhee's funders revealed | MinnPost

At long last, Michelle Rhee's funders revealed | MinnPost

According to Resmovitz, in response StudentsFirst named the Texas-based Laura and John Arnold Foundation and New Jersey hedge fund mogul David Tepper, who also founded and funds the group’s New Jersey offshoot.

The group also received $500,000 in startup funding from philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad’s Broad Foundation, which has championed a host of education reforms, most of them fairly characterized as conservative efforts.

Resmovitz then looked up the donors’ track records, using Federal Election Commission records:

Tepper has given upwards of $23,000 to the Democratic National Committee; $5,000 to Glacier PAC, a backer of Democratic Rep. Max Baucus -- and $5,000 to Mitt Romney for President this December. This January, he gave $375,000 to Restore Our Future, a Romney PAC….

Billionaire John Arnold, a former Enron trader, and his wife Laura, were slated to host in their Houston home a $10,000-ticket Obama fundraiser to feature Michelle Obama last October (the event was postponed). Arnold describes himself as a libertarian, and his wife Laura identifies as a Democrat. Still, Arnold was one of Obama's top 2008 donors, a bundler who gave the campaign between $50,000 and $100,000. According to Huffington Post's FundRace, he has given $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund 2012….

Arnold is currently funding efforts to have legislatures convert the pensions of public employees, such as teachers, into 401k plans. According to the Arnold Foundation's most recent tax returns, it had $650 to $750 million in assets in 2010.

Back to Put Kids First Minneapolis: The local group was born before Rhee’s became a household name, when a handful of Minneapolis residents unhappy with the way MPS staffs schools began comparing notes. Many of the changes they seek are similar to the reforms that landed Rhee in the hot seat in the first place, although even a brief tour of their website will reveal a much more measured tone.

LP - It is stunning to find these groups not satisfied with bribing one side when they can bribe both. It's just a simple action of buying America's politicians so they can destroy America's social structure.

Gop clown show

From government photographers of the last depression

Our One Percent Media | FAIR Blog

Our One Percent Media | FAIR Blog

David Gregory, host of NBC's Meet the Press, and Bret Baier, host of Fox News's Special Report, are among the latest applicants to the Chevy Chase Club, the historic social club that has catered to Washington's wealthiest for over a century....

The Chevy Chase Club was founded in 1892. As recently as 1976, it did not accept Jewish or African-American members, according to a report in the New York Times. And despite reforms, some who have visited the club believe it has maintained an atmosphere reminiscent of earlier days.

"Order a cocktail at the Chevy Chase country club and you'll step back into ante-bellum Savannah," one British reporter for the Telegraph observed last year. "The blacks wait on WASPs, showing all the deference expected of them. You won't find many Cohens either, lounging on the well-kept lawn."

Something to keep in mind next you hear the likes of David Gregory talking about the need for "shared sacrifice" or "hard choices," or for cutting Social Security.

LP - What a hoot. This is who is interpreting what the American people want.

The fourth estate: our one percent media guide

The New Mitt Romney Etch a sketch

Gov Walker (R-Koch) gets a bailout for a new ad from corporate funded group – FreakOutNation

Gov Walker (R-Koch) gets a bailout for a new ad from corporate funded group – FreakOutNation

Governor Scott Walker (R-Koch) has been raising money to keep his anti-workers’ rights butt in the Governor’s office in light of the looming recall, and he’s been successful, raising $12 million. But he needs more so he’s gone to the Corporate funded Republican Governors Association (RGA) for a bailout and they acquiesced in form of a commercial. The focus on the commercial though is an attack on Walker’s opponents, but Scotty’s own abysmal record is like a deer caught in the headlights.

Maine's Labor mural purged north of the border is coming to Lawrence MA.

Purged by Gov. LePage from the Maine Labor Department, the
images will be shown at the Centennial Exhibit in the Everett
Mill

Bread and Roses

Bread and Roses Strike Centennial Exhibit Highlights (Directed by Lorre ...

This is the one hundredth anniversary. Just came back from an event on it.

Obama's Irish heritage signifigance will have a special place next to his birth certificate.

Wisconsin Gives Mrs. Romney an Etch A Sketch

The vest thing is watching her expression when she realized what it was. Maybe she can edge a sketch her signature. Then if she changed her support for this person she could just shake it away.

Thomas Jefferson buy condom on the Daily Show

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Special Morality Report: Pornography (Ron Jeremy Speaks!)

That's not an Etch A Sketch it's called a person

Truly What Has Become March Madness

steely dan - the royal scam

And an oldie capturing an image of the American dream

Recalled Wisconsin State Senator At DUI Trial: I Was Drinking, But It’s All the Union's fault.

Recalled Wisconsin State Senator At DUI Trial: I Was Drinking, But It’s A Union Conspiracy | TPMMuckraker

Remember Randy Hopper, the Republican state senator in Wisconsin who was recalled and defeated in 2011 — and later in the year was arrested and charged with drunk-driving? He and his lawyer are now presenting their defense in the trial: It’s all a political conspiracy by the unions.

The Appleton Post Crescent reports, Hopper and his attorney Dennis Melowski are presenting a case that public employee union members in Fond du Lac County, the place he formerly represented and where he was arrested for alleged DUI, have been out to get him for his support of Gov. Scott Walker’s legislation that eliminated most collective bargaining rights for public employees. (Police and firefighters were exempted.)

This is clearly a guy uncomfortable in the private sector.

Exclusive: OWS Activist Cecily McMillan Describes Seizure, Bodily Injuri...

Paul Ryan's Budget-most extreme corporate welfare

Why do 5 banks hold 52% of all banking assets?

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - "This Land Is Your Land" (Woody ...

The Real Mitt Romney is an Etch-a-Sketch

Romney: The Etch A Sketch Candidate

What a hoot

Romney's campaign image

What a core of authenticity

Etch a Sketch for President

quite a core of conviction.

'War On Women' False Equivalency by Erin Burnett On CNN

Good old erin burnett, why dies cnn pay her?

Fault Lines - History of an occupation

NYPD Riot Cops Remove Occupy Protesters from Union Square | Common Dreams

NYPD Riot Cops Remove Occupy Protesters from Union Square | Common Dreams

Cops rousted about 300 Occupy Wall Street protesters camped out in Union Square Park early Wednesday. [...]

The demonstrators moved into the camp on Saturday, continuing the protest against economic inequality that started this summer in Zuccotti Park. [...]

Dozens of cops — some in riot gear — surrounded the park and ushered the protesters to the sidewalk.
"I'm overwhelmed," said Amanda DeRoller, 22, a protester from Harlem. "I don't understand why we can’t be here. Usually the park is open 24 hours. Now they want us out, because Bloomberg says so. It makes no sense."


After midnight, police barricaded the park to prevent them from returning as the crowd chanted, "We are here for you too! We know what it's like to work and not have enough to eat. We don't want to fight you!"

4:19 AM: Occupier: ¨The rest of the country is going to see this in the morning!¨ Chant: ¨Oppress us, we multiply!¨ 

Very interesting piece on Moyers and Company on Glass Steagall

John Reed on Big Banks' Power and Influence from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

Michael Moore: 'This is just the beginning of OWS'

Will The Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up (feat. Eminem)

Great Ad

Daily Kos :: News Community Action

Daily Kos :: News Community Action

That's right. Mitt Romney wants you to believe that teachers unions are so powerful that it takes the federal government to counter them—state and local governments are powerless against them. That is, of course, one of those statements that would be totally hilarious if it wasn't a claim that Republican presidential candidates and governors were making, en masse, as the reason to crush teachers unions, and if their reasons for wanting to crush teachers unions didn't have quite so much to do with the desire to make it easier to fire experienced teachers and replace them with cheaper, inexperienced teachers. It might be funny if it wasn't such a terrible insult to people who pour their lives into their classrooms and their students, working long hours for not enormously much pay. In fact, as Romney was saying this, the leaders of the Milwaukee teachers union were "campaigning for members to sacrifice a week’s worth of their pay to help reduce class sizes next year in Milwaukee Public Schools. The MPS Children’s Week Campaign is asking educators to give up 2.6% of their salary next year to allow for class-size relief."

Romney thinks if he always makes sure to include the word "unions," we won't notice that what he's saying is that he wants to put teachers down, to eliminate their ability to bargain over class sizes and how much test results will be used to measure educational quality and to treat teachers as the enemies of their students, rather than as educators and advocates. This is nothing new from Mitt Romney. But it's an insult every time he says it.

LP - That's right Romney wants to save education by killing it. Not only that is he wants the teachers he plans on throwing out to pay twice as much in taxes to make up for what he isn't paying.

Darrell Issa and Rep. Ed Towns shouted down in Brooklyn

At an unusual congressional hearing in Brooklyn on Monday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) was interrupted by protesters who claimed he had favored banks over people.

“We want you to go and fight for us!” one woman shouted. “Vote for the people that elected you! It is not right for homeowners to lose their house, and children are homeless on the street.”

“Stop fighting for Wall Street and fight for the people that elected you!” another man yelled.


“Vote for the people! Shame on you!” the demonstrators chanted as security escorted them from the hearing.

“This is democracy at work,” Issa said, attempting to continue as protesters drowned him out with shouts of “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

The alternate St. Patrick's Day Parade

Yesterday the alternate St. Patrick's group the Veteran's for Peace, the group that defended the camp at Occupy Boston.

From the Veterans for Peace: From the depths of our collective hearts we want to thank you all for participating in our Saint Patrick's Peace Parade the people's alternative parade for Peace, Equality, Jobs, Social and Economic Justice. It was a beautiful day and just a spectacular parade. By several people's estimates it appears as if there were somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people. That is at least three times bigger than last year. If someone has a more accurate count please let us know. Everyone who I have spoken to or has contacted us said that they had a wonderful time and will be back next year. 

They also had groups of gays, lesbians and transgender that had been kept out of the parade as well

There was also Church groups

And labor was represented

As was Occupy Boston

Including the Gandhi statue that was in Dewey Square

As were the peace groups

The issues of the day were represented

From the Veteran's for Peace: What a wonderful reception we received from the tens of thousands who were still around when we came by. This is like David and Goliath, and we all know what happen to the big guy. We are winning hearts and minds, our parade is growing and I think we are getting close to seeing the last institutional vestige of bigotry, prejudice and exclusion in the City of Boston come tumbling down. We can't give up, lets see what happens next year. I think the pressure is growing on the City of Boston to make some changes, lets hope so. The bigger we get, the more likely things will change, it is just a matter of time. As we have been told, everything has changed in South Boston, the neighborhood has changed, the residents have changed, Southie is much more integrated and multi-cultural. Everything has changed except the small group of "white men" who run the traditional parade, that too will change in time.

And the police watched over the whole event

It was a great day