All Entries in the "Take Action" Category

“Occupy Maine” Rally Coinciding with Nationwide Protests

The “Occupy Wall Street” protests have spread to cities across America.

Beyond the main demonstration around Wall Street in New York City, rallies against the über-rich have occurred in large cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. In New England, “Occupy Wall Street”-styled protests are scheduled for today in Burlington, Providence and Hartford. In Boston, there was a “Take Back Boston” demonstration yesterday and another event is planned for this afternoon.

In Maine, activists are meeting right now (event is from 11am-2pm) in Portland’s Monument Square, as we have been reporting on the Exception.

Will you be attending the rally in Maine or one of the coinciding protests? Share your take on the events in our comments section below.

Full Story Here: “Occupy Maine” Rally Coinciding with Nationwide Protests | The Exception Magazine.

UPDATE: Cops Accused Of Trapping Wall Street Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge For Mass Arrests

We’re seeing reports on Twitter that protesters from Occupy Wall Street have marched down to the Brooklyn Bridge, and hundreds of people have begun to stream into traffic lanes, completely stopping traffic on the bridge. According to NY Times reporter Brian Stelter on the scene, “Scratch that: a LARGE # of protesters are in lanes of traffic. Traffic out of Manhattan is now completely stopped.” [Watch live video stream below]

Gawker’s Adrian Chen, who is also down there, wrote, “Shit, they’re shutting down the brooklyn bridge,” and also tweeted a picture of the Brooklyn-bound lane completely blocked. We’ll update as we hear more about what’s going on by the bridge.

Update 4:26 p.m.: Police have no arrived on the scene and have started arresting protesters en masse: “Police going to make mass arrest on Brooklyn bridge,” tweeted Jeff Rae. According to @jopauca, “Two white shirts just beat someone. Someone has video.” There are also reports that police have blockaded both sides of the bridge now and taken out the nets.

You can watch a live video stream of what’s going on below:

Full Story Here: UPDATE: Cops Accused Of Trapping Wall Street Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge For Mass Arrests: Gothamist.

What the Media Aren’t Telling You About American Protests

I AM LATELY REMINDED OF AN ASSIGNMENT when my metro editor sent me to cover a “gentle protest” over the Gulf War of the 1990s in Jackson, Mich. (Don’t remember that war – or what it was about? That’s OK – because it was probably “security” and “oil,” and George W. ultimately righted his dad’s failure to see that war action through to its completion: killing Saddam Hussein, or at least dismantling his government. But I digress.)

It was an after-hours event, likely on a weekend (as that was my beat). And when I arrived at the designated time, well after sundown, I found one lone woman walking the length of a wall at an armory or similar government-type outpost with, not a flashlight, but a real, flickering candle. Back and forth, in the dark, trudging in the snow.

No one else had shown up – except me, that is. The place was deserted and, as I recall, not on a busy road. I actually had to drive by twice before I even saw her candle and a small chair she set up for herself when she got tired. It occurred to me that, if I walked away, it would have been the same as if she’d never been there at all. Yet, incontrovertibly, there she was: protesting a war that, at the time, no one was particularly riled up about. It wasn’t a story, really.

Full Story Here: What the Media Aren’t Telling You About American Protests – Lisa Romero – Open Salon.

24 Arrested As Protesters Pack Financial District

Foreclosed Families, Supporters March To Bank Of America

A group called Occupy Boston took over Dewey Square in Boston Friday night holding a 60s-style sit in.

“It doesn’t look like the politicians are serving the people any more,” said John, a protestor who would only give his first name. “They’re serving people with money.”This is part of nationwide movement that began with a large protest last week on Wall Street.”We’re talking about government reform. We’re talking about finance reform,” said Nadeem Mazen, from Occupy Boston. “And we’re opening up a national dialogue as part of a really big issue that’s on so many people’s minds.”

Full Story Here: 24 Arrested As Protesters Pack Financial District – Most Popular News Story – WCVB Boston.

Occupy Wall Street protest hits San Francisco’s Market Street

San Francisco may not have a Wall Street but it has a Market Street, which is where protesters are currently taking their cause.

Occupy Wall Street — the organization behind the ongoing protests in New York City — has officially spread to The City, with people gathering Thursday in the Financial District to rally against big banks.

Full Story Here: Occupy Wall Street protest hits San Francisco’s Market Street | Julia Chan | Local | San Francisco Examiner.

The Best Among Us

By Chris Hedges

There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history. Either you obstruct, in the only form left to us, which is civil disobedience, the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street and accelerated destruction of the ecosystem that sustains the human species, or become the passive enabler of a monstrous evil. Either you taste, feel and smell the intoxication of freedom and revolt or sink into the miasma of despair and apathy. Either you are a rebel or a slave.

To be declared innocent in a country where the rule of law means nothing, where we have undergone a corporate coup, where the poor and working men and women are reduced to joblessness and hunger, where war, financial speculation and internal surveillance are the only real business of the state, where even habeas corpus no longer exists, where you, as a citizen, are nothing more than a commodity to corporate systems of power, one to be used and discarded, is to be complicit in this radical evil. To stand on the sidelines and say “I am innocent” is to bear the mark of Cain; it is to do nothing to reach out and help the weak, the oppressed and the suffering, to save the planet. To be innocent in times like these is to be a criminal. Ask Tim DeChristopher.

Full Story Here: Chris Hedges: The Best Among Us – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig.

October2011 protest, one week and counting

“October 2011 is the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. It is time to light the spark that sets off a true democratic, nonviolent transition to a world in which people are freed to create just and sustainable solutions.”

These words describe the mission behind a “Human Needs, Not Corporate Greed” protest beginning October 6th in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza. One week from today, I will be participating in this protest with a small group of students and faculty from Tulane’s School of Social Work.

I have joined several committees and coalition meetings since starting my Master’s program one month ago, but this will be my first “hands-on” experience as a social worker in training. While my knowledge of protests until now has involved little more than taking pictures from the sidelines, I feel both fortunate and excited about being involved in this experience. Our group has the opportunity to represent our school and mission as social workers, while also gaining new insights from the many leaders and organizations who will also be involved in the event nationwide.

Below are 15 core issues that ultimately represent the “October2011” vision toward creating a peaceful, just and sustainable world:

Full Story Here: October2011 protest, one week and counting | Scholars and Rogues.

‘Occupy Chicago’ protest enters fifth day

A small group of protesters in Chicago started their own “Occupy Wall Street” demonstration over the weekend. Around 20 “Occupy Chicago” protesters gathered at Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, on September 23 and then marched to the Federal Reserve Bank. Some of the protesters have remained camped out in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the organizers said the “occupation” had more than doubled over the last several days.

On Thursday, the “Occupy Chicago” protesters marched down Michigan Avenue and through Millennium Park.

Although the “Occupy Wall Street” protest has been criticized by some for having no clear agenda or demands, one protester had three clear goals: repealing the Bush tax cuts, overturning the Citizens United decision and reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act.

Watch video of day 5 of the protest, uploaded to YouTube, below:

Full Story Here: ‘Occupy Chicago’ protest enters fifth day | Raw Replay.

An Open Letter from Occupy Wall Street to All Americans and Progressive Media

Please join us:

This is an open letter to all Americans, and particularly to progressive magazines, Web Sites, TV programs, etc. Please spend most of your time focusing on the Occupy Wall Street protests. This is real, this is serious, and this will become a mass movement. I have been here every day for the past week. Everyone is dedicated and determined. People have come from all over the country, and they plan to stay for months. Many have been sleeping outside, on the floors of Zuccotti Park, and others have been arrested, sacrificing their comfort for the most important of all causes. It’s safe to assume the mainstream media either will not cover the demonstrations at all or will do so only to ridicule us. But liberal media outlets must get on board. If you do not, you are essentially useless.

As a journalist myself, I know the only reason any serious progressive does reporting is because he or she wants to motivate people to get off the couch and hit the streets. We journalists write articles, participate in TV segments, appear in documentaries… For what? To inform people of how they’ve been enslaved by the corporate state. And to make them understand that they have the power to restore their democracy if they choose to.

If we in the media don’t do our part we might as well not exist. If we don’t cover these protests day and night to try to mobilize a revolution, then we are just complainers.

Full Story Here: An Open Letter from Occupy Wall Street to All Americans and Progressive Media – The Bloody Crossroads – The Bloody Crossroads.

US Day of Rage – Joint Solidarity Statement by US Day of Rage and the October2011 Movement

The October2011 Movement is planning an occupation and nonviolent resistance actions in Washington, DC starting on October 6, 2011. This date marks the 10-year anniversary of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the first week of the new federal budget which provides unlimited funding for war, tax breaks for the wealthy and austerity for human services.

Thousands of people have pledged to gather in Freedom Plaza beginning on that day to nonviolently disrupt the disloyal, incompetent, and corrupt special interests which have usurped our nation’s civil and military power, spawning a host of threats to our liberty, lives and national security.

The October2011 Movement protests corporatism and militarism because they prevent solutions to our current crises which would create a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world from being implemented. Instead concentrated corporate interests rule our elections and political process so that wealth continues to be funneled to the top 1%.

Full Story Here: US Day of Rage – Joint Solidarity Statement by US Day of Rage and the October2011 Movement #oct6 #occupyDC.

Occupy Wall Street: Thousands to protest in NYC Sept. 17 – Sep. 16, 2011

Egyptians did it for democracy. So did people in Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. Now, activist groups are hoping Americans will launch their own uprising — in the form of thousands of protesters descending on Wall Street this weekend.

Occupy Wall Street is a “leaderless resistance movement” spearheaded by activist magazine Adbusters. Organizers want people to swarm into lower Manhattan on September 17 and set up camp for two months, then “incessantly repeat one simple demand.”

What’s that demand? They haven’t decided yet.

Full Story Here: Occupy Wall Street: Thousands to protest in NYC Sept. 17 – Sep. 16, 2011.

Tar Sands Protest: ‘When Ordinary People do Extraordinary Things’

Crisis clarifies our deepest beliefs and affections, our spirituality. In turn, these moments of great clarity prompt ordinary people to do extraordinary things — and historic changes happen.

Fifty-some years ago the Freedom Riders defied Klu Klux Klan church bombings and bus burnings to end racial segregation in the Jim Crow South.

Today, the crisis is catastrophic climate change — carbon pollution that threatens all life on our planet — and a new generation of Freedom Riders is returning home from peaceful protests, and mass arrests, at the White House.

The sheer dignity and poise of the demonstrators is stunning as you view the photographs – wave after wave — day after day for two weeks — more than twelve hundred people stepped forward, peacefully sat down in front of the White House fence and were arrested. This was the largest act of civil disobedience on this continent during this century.

Full Story Here: Tar Sands Protest: ‘When Ordinary People do Extraordinary Things’ | Common Dreams.

Nurses To Converge on 60 Congressional Offices Sept. 1, Calling for Wall St. Tax

From Maine to California, nurses, joined by others angry over the ongoing economic crisis, will call on members of Congress in their local district offices on September 1 to support a tax on Wall Street financial speculation to pay to, in their words, “heal the nation.”

The nurses — members of the National Nurses United (NNU) labor union — will visit the home offices of Republicans and Democrats, with a common message: Everyday Americans are hurting, and they need jobs, healthcare, housing, quality education, nutrition, and a secure retirement, not more cuts, as has been the recent obsession of Congress.

Among the lawmakers nurses want to meet with are members of the leadership of Capitol Hill, including House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Full Story Here: The Washington Current: Nurses To Converge on 60 Congressional Offices Sept. 1, Calling for Wall St. Tax.

How Do We Stop the Relentless Expansion of the American Empire? First, Uncover the Truth About It

AlterNet has dedicated some serious editorial muscle to do investigative reporting on US military operations around the globe — can you help?

A few weeks ago, in a conversation with U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye, Nick Turse — one of the great investigative reporters on military power and national security — learned something truly shocking. He found out that, on any given day, American commandos are carrying out secret missions in 70 countries. And here is some startling news — by the end of the year, that number is likely to reach 120.

That’s right. You read that correctly. America’s secret commandos are carrying out operations in 120 countries around the world. What Nick learned provides striking new evidence of a rising clandestine Pentagon power elite, waging a secret war in about 60% of the world’s nations — a far larger number than was previously acknowledged.This represents a huge expansion by the Obama administration over that of George W. Bush, who deployed “Special Ops” troops in 60 countries.

As Turse points out: Without the knowledge of the American public, a secret unit within the U.S. military — U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) — has grown into a combined force of startling proportions. Made up of the Army’s “Green Berets” and Rangers, Navy SEALs, Air Force Air Commandos, and Marine Corps Special Operations teams, in addition to specialized helicopter crews, boat teams, civil affairs personnel, para-rescuemen, and even battlefield air-traffic controllers and special operations weathermen, SOCOM carries out the United States’ most specialized and shadowy missions. These include assassinations, counterterrorist raids, long-range reconnaissance, intelligence analysis, foreign troop training, and weapons of mass destruction counter-proliferation operations.

Full Story Here: How Do We Stop the Relentless Expansion of the American Empire? First, Uncover the Truth About It | Activism & Vision | AlterNet.

SIGN THE PETITION – join Bernie Sanders and Daily Kos in saying no to any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

Sign the form below to join Bernie Sanders and Daily Kos in saying no to any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

Dear Friend,

In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, it is imperative that we vigorously defend the American social safety net that is making life bearable for tens of millions of vulnerable Americans.

We must make it absolutely clear to President Obama and the Democratic and Republican Leadership in Congress that there must not be cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. At a time when the richest people in our country are becoming richer while the middle class is disappearing and poverty is increasing, we must not balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick and the children.

Wealthy individuals, whose effective personal income tax rate is now the lowest in 50 years, must begin paying their fair share of taxes. Large corporations that make billions in profits and pay nothing in taxes must finally be denied the outrageous tax loop-holes they currently enjoy. We must also make significant cuts at the Department of Defense, whose budget has tripled since 1997.

This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. Decisions being made now will impact not only our lives, but the lives of our kids and grandchildren. This is a time to stand tall and fight back against the reactionary right-wing agenda.

Please join me in opposing any deficit reduction agreement that cuts Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid – programs that are of vital importance to millions of our fellow citizens. Please sign the enclosed petition and I will convey your concern to the White House and congressional leaders.

Thank you,

Bernie

Senator Bernie Sanders

Full Story Here: SIGN THE PETITION – Sign the form below and join Bernie Sanders and Daily Kos in saying no to any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid..

Will you help Senator Sanders expose the Koch Echo Chamber?

EXPOSE THE KOCHS: The Koch brothers fund multiple think tanks and academic centers to promote their ideology and grow their profits, a Brave New Foundation investigation reveals. Let’s create an echo chamber of truth by using YouTube’s SHARE tools above to protect Social Security and counter the Koch billions. http://KochBrothersExposed.com/socialsecurity

10 Steps to Defeat the Corptocracy

The only way to overcome the power of money is regain our courage and solidarity. Here’s how to do that.

Many Americans know that the United States is not a democracy but a “corporatocracy,” in which we are ruled by a partnership of giant corporations, the extremely wealthy elite and corporate-collaborator government officials. However, the truth of such tyranny is not enough to set most of us free to take action. Too many of us have become pacified by corporatocracy-created institutions and culture.

Some activists insist that this political passivity problem is caused by Americans’ ignorance due to corporate media propaganda, and others claim that political passivity is caused by the inability to organize due to a lack of money. However, polls show that on the important issues of our day – from senseless wars, to Wall Street bailouts, to corporate tax-dodging, to health insurance rip-offs – the majority of Americans are not ignorant to the reality that they are being screwed. And American history is replete with organizational examples – from the Underground Railroad, to the Great Populist Revolt, to the Flint sit-down strike, to large wildcat strikes a generation ago – of successful rebels who had little money but lots of guts and solidarity.

Full Story Here: 10 Steps to Defeat the Corptocracy | | AlterNet.

In One Month, 214,399 Ohioans Sign Petition To Stop Kasich’s Anti-Worker Law

Last month, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed an anti-union bill drastically restricting collective bargaining rights in that state. Yet, as ThinkProgress explained after it was signed, Ohio law gives the voters 90 days to force a referendum on the law if they can collect enough signatures supporting Ohio’s workers. According to the organizers of that petition drive, they are now 93 percent of the way to achieving this goal after just one month of signature gathering:

Today, at a press conference in Columbus, We Are Ohio released its first set of preliminary data from the field regarding the total number of petition signatures gathered thus far.

“We are pleased to report 214,399 signatures have been collected in the first month,” said Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio. “The unprecedented level of support from communities all across the state is staggering. While we continue to struggle to keep up with demand for petitions, we know this campaign is a marathon, not a sprint. We believe these early numbers will only serve to motivate our supporters to collect more signatures to ensure we reach the threshold of 231,149 valid signatures.”

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » In One Month, 214,399 Ohioans Sign Petition To Stop Kasich’s Anti-Worker Law.

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead. Bring the Troops Home.

After 10 years of war and the death of Osama bin Laden, it’s time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan. With al-Qaeda driven from the country and Bin Laden now dead, the rationale for war has evaporated. It’s time to stop now.

The swift withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan must begin immediately.

Bring them home.

Sign our petition and we’ll deliver it to the White House this week.

We’ve received tens of thousands of signatures in just 24 hours, and we’ve caught the attention of Washington, D.C. Here’s what U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) had to say about it on Democracy Now! today:

“[T]his petition…really does give us the wind beneath our wings that we need here in Congress to begin to exercise our leadership responsibilities and to say no more combat operation in Afghanistan. And so, I really want to commend Robert and all those who have begun this.”

With Bin Laden dead and al-Qaeda driven from Afghanistan, there’s no good reason to continue spending $2 billion a week on this war.

Please join the tens of thousands of others calling for the return of our troops to the U.S. after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Sign our petition today.

Sincerely,

Derrick Crowe, Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team

Full Story Here: Osama Bin Laden Is Dead. Bring the Troops Home..

Act Now to End the War in Afghanistan

Dennis Kucinich :-:

Two weeks ago, nine Afghan children between the ages of nine and fifteen were killed by a NATO strike after being mistaken for insurgents. General Petraeus issued an apology and promised to investigate the killings, but news of their deaths quickly sparked anti-U.S. protests. They were killed in the Pech Valley, an area of Afghanistan once considered vital to U.S. military strategy. But now the U.S. military will soon be withdrawing from the Pech Valley after realizing that our presence was destabilizing the area.

The reality is our presence is destabilizing more than the Pech Valley — it’s propping up a corrupt regime and fueling an insurgency, all while Afghan’s see little to no improvement in their lives. And it’s destabilizing Americans at home. While vital services and benefits get cut — such as the Community Development Block Grants and the WIC program which provides low-income expecting mothers and infants with proper nutrition — we continue to fund an expensive war with no end in sight.

Last Wednesday, joined by members of both parties including Representatives Ron Paul, Walter Jones, Pete Stark, Bob Filner, and Barbara Lee, I announced a new bill to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan by the end of this year. Our legislation invokes the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which, if enacted, would require the President to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces out of Afghanistan by December 31, 2011. This legislation has bi-partisan support and, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, a majority of Americans want us out of Afghanistan by the end of the year. A vote will be held on Thursday. We could end the war this week.

Full Story Here: OpEdNews – Article: Act Now to End the War in Afghanistan.

Help Stop the Disastrous Korean-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) From Ruining America

President Obama will soon present the South Korean Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) to Congress, and we need your help to tell your representatives to stop this horrendous treaty!

There are a multitude of issues with this disastrous agreement that will only increase unemployment and make America even more dependent on foreign nations. This is according to a study done by a government agency, the U.S. International Trade Commission, as well as non-partisan think tanks such as the Economic Policy Institute.

In the first seven years of the agreement, KORUS could cost as many as 159,000 American jobs and increase our trade deficit by $16.7 billion. Obama has promised that this deal would create 70,000 low-paying insourced jobs (Americans working for foreign employers). That would not even be half of the high paying jobs we would lose. As more foreign products enter our country, our trade deficit will continue to rise out of control.

Full Story Here: Help Stop the Disastrous Korean-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) From Ruining America | Economy In Crisis.

10 Everyday Acts of Resistance That Changed the World

Václav Havel called it “the power of the powerless.” How regular people, from Denmark to Liberia, have stood up to power—and won.

The Arab spring of 2011 has already changed the region and the world. Ordinary people have lost their fear and shattered the perception that their rulers are invincible. Whatever happens next, the changes across the region in the first few months of 2011 will prove historic.

n Tunisia, the now famous “jasmine revolution” began with protests in December, triggered by the self-immolation of a 26-year-old vegetable seller, Mohammed Bouazizi. Bouazizi, remembered by his younger sister Basma as “funny and generous,” could finally take no more of the official harassment and humiliation meted out to him.

Four weeks of protests, fueled by Facebook and other social media networks, concluded with the unthinkable: Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, president for the past 23 years, fled the country.

Full Story Here:  10 Everyday Acts of Resistance That Changed the World by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson — YES! Magazine.

Citizens Go to Jail to Protest Budget Cuts

Following a remarkable display of civil disobedience, seventeen protesters were arrested Thursday outside Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire’s office. In the footage below, you can see the troopers physically carry one of the activists out of the gallery.

About 400 citizens were in the building, and the overall protest was reportedly orderly and civil, but these arrests highlight the growing desperation in the anti-cut movements, and in the population at large.

As Glenda Faatoafe, a home care provider protesting healthcare cuts puts it, austerity measures are truly a matter of life and death. “They are killing our clients,” says Faatoafe, “I have a client that has to be turned every hour. He’s going to die. Do you want that on your conscience? Apparently, [lawmakers] do.”

House lawmakers will vote this week on Washington’s version of austerity, a $4.4 billion slashing frenzy for the 2011–13 budget cycle.

Full Story Here: Citizens Go to Jail to Protest Budget Cuts | The Nation.

Events across across nation connect labor struggles to civil rights movement, 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike

This year’s commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in Memphis during a 1968 labor dispute has galvanized union activists and progressive forces against what they see as a wholesale assault on labor rights.

Events scheduled for today and Monday’s official 43rd anniversary have been organized by the AFL-CIO’s “We Are One” campaign and individual unions from coast to coast.

Local 1733 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represented the striking sanitation workers King came to Memphis to assist, will hold its annual march to the government plaza Downtown Monday as well as events at the National Civil Rights Museum today.

Full Story Here: Events across across nation connect labor struggles to civil rights movement, 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike » The Commercial Appeal.

Utah rally advances ‘We Are One’ events supporting labor and civil rights on Monday

Ralliers filled the steps of the Utah State Capitol Saturday morning, showing support for organized labor and advancing Monday’s “We Are One” events across the country that will remember the April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Wisconsin continues to be a focal point to workers’ rights issues because of a partisan effort to curb most state workers’ collective-bargaining rights as a way of cutting wages. Similar actions followed Ohio and are on the legislative agenda in Florida as cash-strapped states look for ways to improve their bottom line.

In Utah, unions see threats from the Legislature, including the recently repealed HB 477, which would have limited the public’s access to communications involving state lawmakers.

Full Story Here: Utah rally advances ‘We Are One’ events supporting labor and civil rights on Monday | Deseret News.

Ohio Voters Have 90 Days To Stop Gov. Kasich’s Anti-Worker Bill

After weeks of flouting the state’s legislative rules to ram through an anti-union bill, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed the bill last night. Yet, while Kasich started this war on Ohio workers, the state’s increasingly disguntled voters have the power to end it:

Ohioans opposed to the union-neutering legislation vow to keep it from becoming law through the state’s referendum process.

Under Ohio law, opponents have 90 days from the time the governor signs the legislation to collect 231,149 signatures to get a referendum on the November ballot.

If they collect enough valid signatures from 44 Ohio counties within that time frame, the law wouldn’t go into effect until voters approved as much, assuming it won a majority of the vote in November, which now seems like a pretty big assumption.

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Ohio Voters Have 90 Days To Stop Gov. Kasich’s Anti-Worker Bill.

Millions Against Monsanto Campaign

435 Chapters with 2300 Supporters =1,000,000 Against Monsanto!

The Millions Against Monsanto campaign is forming 435 local chapters, one for each U.S. Congressional District. Our goal is for each chapter to reach 2300 supporters by World Food Day. October 16, 2011, will be a nationwide day of action, turning out 1,000,000 people against Monsanto and in support of our right to know – and choose – what’s in our food. Sign and distribute the Millions Against Monsanto petition. Join your local chapter.

VIdeo at link:

Join Your Local Millions Against Monsanto Chapter

Full Story Here: Organic Consumers Association: Millions Against Monsanto Campaign.

‘US Uncut’ crashes Bank of America ‘Tax Dodger Conference’

Several demonstrators crashed Bank or America’s Investor Conference Tuesday to make the point that when corporations don’t pay taxes, governments are forced to lay off public workers.

A blog posting by the anti-austerity group U.S. Uncut called for protesters to gather Tuesday morning at what they called Bank of America’s “Tax Dodger Conference.”

“Call your broker- if you have any shares in BofA, you’re free to come inside to the conference and tell everyone you see about BofA’s tax dodging,” the statement said.

Full Story Here: ‘US Uncut’ crashes Bank of America ‘Tax Dodger Conference’ | The Raw Story.

Wisconsin workers will not surrender, protest set for March 12

The people of Wisconsin will not give up. The fight against Governor Scott Walker’s plan to destroy public sector unions, public schools and social services is a daily theme in all parts of this state. Protests are ongoing, some numbering in the thousands. Last Saturday, March 5, tens of thousands march here.

From Appleton to Eau Claire, pickets, town halls and recall petitioning consume people’s daily lives. This weekend, Gov. Walker’s dinner in Columbus was interrupted by 800 angry citizens. Thousands protested as well In Eau Claire, Grafton, Hudson, La Crosse and Steven’s Point.

Rumors buzz through Milwaukee taverns about the 14 Democratic State Senators who are still in Illinois. People speculate whether the bill will pass and what effects it will have on state employee salaries, public schools, low-income mothers and the environment.

Full Story Here: Wisconsin workers will not surrender, protest set for March 12 | Fight Back!.

S.C. Union Leader Calls for Possible Nationwide General Workers Strike

A high-profile South Carolina union leader said Wednesday that he doesn’t see any other way for the labor movement to win the battle against an anti-union bill in Wisconsin than to call for a general workers strike if such legislation passes.

Kenny Riley, who heads up the Charleston local 1422 of the International Longshoremen’s Association – the largest and most powerful union in the Palmetto State – is a bright star among the national union leadership.

He’s heading to Cleveland today for the Emergency Labor Meeting.

Riley will speak in Cleveland on a panel titled “How Can We Help Mobilize the Labor Movement to Fight the Attacks Against Working People?”

Full Story Here: Corey Hutchins: S.C. Union Leader Calls for Possible Nationwide General Workers Strike.

Michael Moore headlines Madison rally against Walker

Thousands of union supporters protested Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposals on Saturday at the state capital, a day after the state’s chief executive followed through on his threat to issue layoff warning notices to unions representing state workers.

Joining the crowd was liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who praised the protesters gathered in the battle over union bargaining rights as joining the history of the American labor movement.

Walker, a Republican, has proposed increased payments for health care and pension benefits for public workers and stripping their unions of most of their collective bargaining rights, a move he says is necessary to address a budget gap of $3.6 billion for the coming two years.

Full Story Here: Michael Moore headlines Madison rally against Walker | The Raw Story.

AFL-CIO Plans Another Big Saturday Rally At Wisconsin Capitol

The protesters aren’t done in Wisconsin — far from it.

The AFL-CIO is organizing yet another Saturday rally at the state Capitol in Madison. This follows the mega-protests that occurred the past two weekends, which each attracted many tens of thousands of people in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal and its anti-public employee union provisions.

The first mega-rally two weeks ago was interesting in that it pitted the anti-Walker protesters against a promised contingent of pro-Walker Tea Partiers — only to have the anti-Walker people outnumber his supporters at least several times over. And with tens of thousands of people, there were no amazingly no arrests.

Full Story Here: AFL-CIO Plans Another Big Saturday Rally At Wisconsin Capitol | TPMDC.

IWW General Strike Pamphlet

Walker’s bill, if passed, will strip public-sector unions of the right to collectively bargain regarding all workplace issues other than basic wages. Workers would no longer have a legal say in their pensions, their healthcare plans, workplace safety, or any other pertinent issues. Without collective bargaining, we have no legally-recognized way to influence how we are treated at our jobs. Workers with access to a union have an opportunity to make their workplaces more democratic. Think about how much time we dedicate to work and work-related activities. With so much of our lives spent in undemocratic workplaces, how could we have real democracy in the rest of our lives?

IWW General Strike Pamphlet

Pamphlet produced by the Madison IWW advocating a general strike to fight the Governor of Wisconsin’s proposed bill that would end collective bargaining rights to public sector workers.

What Do We Face?

Walker’s bill, if passed, will strip public-sector unions of the right to collectively bargain regarding all workplace issues other than basic wages. Workers would no longer have a legal say in their pensions, their healthcare plans, workplace safety, or any other pertinent issues. Without collective bargaining, we have no legally-recognized way to influence how we are treated at our jobs. Workers with access to a union have an opportunity to make their workplaces more democratic. Think about how much time we dedicate to work and work-related activities. With so much of our lives spent in undemocratic workplaces, how could we have real democracy in the rest of our lives?

The impact of Walker’s bill reaches far beyond unions and public servants. Stripping public workers of their right to bargain affects the rights of everyone who works for a living. This attack on workers’ rights will not stop with the public sector or with Wisconsin. These anti-union bills are spreading around the country from Indiana to Ohio to Nebraska in an effort to serve the corporate elite by lowering labor costs and weakening all labor.

Full Story Here: Madison, Wisconsin: IWW General Strike Pamphlet – Infoshop News.

How You Can Boycott the Kochs

The backlash against the Kochs’ influence in Wisconsin is gaining steam, with labor supporters starting to boycott Koch Industries’ many products (listed here).

Over the past few weeks, the billionaire Koch brothers and their front groups have steadily increased their involvement in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s efforts to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights. The Kochs’ outsized wealth and influence are forces to be reckoned with; that’s why we should all be grateful that a Koch backlash, including a boycott of Koch Industries’ products, has started picking up steam.

AlterNet has been keeping a close eye on the Koch-financed support for Walker’s anti-union campaign. As we reported last week, Walker is deep in the pocket of the Kochs, having received some $43,000 from Koch Industries while running for governor in 2010. Once Walker was elected, he made sure to take care of his friends/financiers, giving out massive tax breaks to Koch Industries, and more recently, launching the ongoing effort to quash Wisconsin union workers’ rights.

As AlterNet’s Washington bureau chief Adele Stan puts it, Walker is “carrying out the wishes of his corporate master.” But why are the brothers Koch so interested in stifling labor rights in Wisconsin? For one thing, they have significant business interests in the region, with at least 17 facilities and offices in the state and some 4,000 miles of pipeline through Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. Also, the Kochs recognize that the outcome of the battle in Wisconsin could have national implications: if Walker wins, workers elsewhere might be less inclined to put up a fight. And that would be good for the Kochs’ bottom line.

Full Story Here: How You Can Boycott the Kochs | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet.

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No Other Way Out

Chris Hedges

I have watched mothers and fathers keening in grief over the frail corpses of their children in hospitals in Gaza and rural villages in El Salvador, Bosnia and Kosovo. The faces of these dead children, their bodies ripped apart by iron fragments or bullets tumbling end over end through their small, delicate frames, appear to me almost daily like faint and sadly familiar ghosts. The frailty and innocence of my own children make these images difficult to bear.

A child a day dies in war-related violence in Afghanistan. Children die in roadside explosions. They die in airstrikes. They die after militants lure them to carry suicide bombs, usually without their knowledge. They die in firefights. They are executed by the Taliban after being accused, sometimes correctly, of spying for the Afghan National Army. They are tiny pawns in a futile and endless war. They are robbed of their childhood. They live in fear and surrounded by the terror of indiscriminate violence. The United Nations, whose most recent report on children in Afghanistan covered a two-year period from Sept. 1, 2008, to Aug. 30, 2010, estimates that in the first half of last year at least 176 children were killed and 389 more w

Full Story Here: Chris Hedges: No Other Way Out – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig.

Rally for the American Dream: Huge Gatherings Nationwide in Solidarity with Wisconsin Democratic Uprising

Progressives have forcefully challenged the conservative and Tea Party message in a massive showing of support for the middle class.

“Welcome Senators!” a Chicago protest sign declared, as thousands rallied in solidarity with Wisconsin workers and celebrated Democratic senators hiding out in Illinois.

Thousands rallied nation-wide on Saturday, with MoveOn putting the total at over 100,000 people in Madison and 50,000 in other state capitols and major cities. Protests at state capitols were also a warning shot to governors around the country: workers will fight major cuts to social programs and attacks on unions.

The protests in Wisconsin have now sparked a nation-wide movement. This is the first time progressives have forcefully challenged the conservative and Tea Party message over the past two years, rejecting the notion that deficits and government spending are the country’s biggest problem. (Click here to see AlterNet’s collection of photos from the rallies).

In Philadelphia, demonstrators chanted, “Tax the rich, stop the war.”

Full Story Here: Rally for the American Dream: Huge Gatherings Nationwide in Solidarity with Wisconsin Democratic Uprising | | AlterNet.

Wisconsin protest rallies spread to all 50 States

Yesterday in Madison, WI. an estimated crowd size of 70,000 to 100,000 people gathered in frigid weather to protest Governor Scott Walker and the republican controlled legislature who are trying to kill the States public unions. The protest in Madison was the largest seen in the State capitol since the Vietnam War and it was also the largest crowd since Wisconsin workers first started protesting about two weeks ago.

Early this past Friday morning the republicans in the Assembly passed Governor Walker’s union busting Bill. The State Senators still have to vote on the Bill before it can be signed by Walker, but they need the States democratic Senators to be present in order to have a three-fifths quorum which is required for the vote to take place.

Currently, the Senate democrats have not made themselves available for a vote, and they have said that they will not be available until Walker removes the portion of the Bill that takes away collective bargaining rights for unions. The unions have already agreed to wage cuts and benefit cuts.

Full Story Here: Wisconsin protest rallies spread to all 50 States – Las Vegas Democrat | Examiner.com.

Exclusive Photos from Madison

Anthony Skaronea:  2.19.11

We headed out late as far as I thought Sat. My wife and I usually do a little shopping maybe take in a movie on most Saturdays. She asked: Where do you want to go today? I said it is nice out lets go to Madison. She said: Madison, what the H for. For lunch I said.
In 1 hr we were on the road. Just a great warm sunny day. I was thinking what a day for a rally, for a little stand up, for a little stand up get up.  I didn’t have the guts to tell her we are going to a protest for the right to have collective bargaining. I also didn’t have the guts to surprise her with her 1st protest, so I broke the news to her and we talked as we drove through the heart of American farm fields and dairy barns. The landscape was truly beautiful on the drive that day and just when we thought the day couldn’t get anymore picturesque we drove up the hill to the capital. Some were going home and my wife said looks like everyone is leaving. I did think to myself for a second well we did get a late start being it already 3 in the afternoon. Well maybe they have been there all day and they were a little worn out. that  lulling moment fleeted quickly  as we got closer to the capital. People were excited. Groups were on corners not even at the rally, just waving there arms with every sign imaginable and I’m not talking about a few people on a corner im talking like 30 to 50 people on the corner.  My wife’s eyes were open as wide  as I have ever seen them and all she could say was Oh My God. Now we are just 1block from the capital steps and the sidewalks disappeared to just a hustling cattle call of determined Americans. Everyone had a sign ( except us 2 Illinoisans) Now we had parked and as we got to the streets surounding the capital everyone was hurrying to get there and the crowd now was electric. Chants of all kinds were flaring out of every corner of that square. There were lots of smiles, lots of nods of thanks for being here and we are so with you.  All this without saying a word. The firemen didn’t have to be there nor the police but they were and they were in numbers. This rally gave some hope that all the progressive faces from 2008 hadn’t gone mad and jumped to the other side. We came out in droves.Thousands for sure. We all need to stay focused on the prize . It’s about basic human rights. The yelling, the chanting, the politeness of the crowd and the energy of the good folks of Wis, gave me that warm fuzzy feelin and restored my faith,if only for a little while that this is our America and we will be damned if anyone is going to take that God given right away from us.

The right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness .

Thank you Wisconsin

Police estimate Wis. Capitol protest crowd at 70,000 – WITI

Police say nearly 70,000 people have converged on the Wisconsin Capitol to join in protests over a Republican bill that would strip public workers of most of their collective bargaining rights.

Full Story Here: Police estimate Wis. Capitol protest crowd at 70,000 – WITI.

House bars Planned Parenthood from federal funding

The U.S. House of Representatives has just voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care.

It is the most dangerous legislative assault in our history, and it cannot go unanswered. We — Planned Parenthood and the three million women, men, and teens who are at risk of losing access to basic care — need you to stand united with us now.

Sign our open letter to every single representative in the House who voted for this cruel, unconscionable, unthinkable law, and to every senator who still has a chance to stop it.

Full Story Here: Planned Parenthood: House bars Planned Parenthood from federal funding.

Stand in solidarity against Walker’s radical proposal and threats –

Gov. Walker has threatened to call out the National Guard against workers who protest his radical plan to cut benefits of middle class workers and strip them of their rights.

Stand in solidarity with tens of thousands of workers who have been protesting — sign the open letter on the right.

Letter text:

Members of the Wisconsin Legislature,

The Associated Press reports, “Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond if there is any unrest among state employees in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights.”

The Governor’s decision to ask the Wisconsin National Guard to be prepared for a fight against nurses, teachers, and other public employees puts Wisconsin firmly on the wrong side of history. The idea that a governor can use the military to impose his personal, political will…..

Full Story Here: Stand in solidarity against Walker’s radical proposal and threats – sign the open letter | Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Not $1 more

There’s a lot of talk in Congress about how to cut the U.S. budget these days. But there’s one place that nobody in Congress or the White House wants to talk about belt-tightening – the Pentagon.

Despite all the tough talk, neither the President nor the Congress are proposing to cut overall spending on war and weapons. In fact, BOTH parties are still talking about an INCREASE in spending for the Pentagon, which already gets more than 50% of all the money Congress votes on, and that doesn’t even *count* the money for the actual wars.

If Congress is willing to cut stuff that Americans really need – like job training, home heating assistance, and research into clean energy – then EVERYTHING needs to be “on the table” for cuts.

That’s why we’ve launched the “Not $1 More” campaign – and we want YOU to sign on first. Tell Congress to ‘put the guns on the table’ and make the Pentagon live by the same budget rules as everyone else: Sign here to support Not $1 More.

Full Story Here: Not $1 more.

Thousands gather at Capitol to protest Walker budget bill

In one of the largest protests in recent memory, thousands of angry union supporters gathered at the state Capitol on Tuesday to oppose a bill by Gov. Scott Walker that would greatly weaken organized labor in Wisconsin.

More than 12,000 protesters gathered in two separate rallies outside the Capitol, many of them carrying signs and chanting “Recall Walker” or “Kill this bill.” Thousands more crowded inside the rotunda and watched TV monitors broadcasting a public hearing on the governor’s proposal.

Capitol Police officers, Department of Natural Resources wardens, UW police and state troopers provided beefed-up security, but the crowd remained peaceful — if loud.

Full Story Here: Thousands gather at Capitol to protest Walker budget bill.

Letter to the Department of Justice re: Conflicts of Interest in the Citizens United case – Common Cause

The Honorable Eric Holder, Jr.

Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Holder,

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, 130 S. Ct. 876 (2010), has had a dramatic impact, overturning prior Court precedent, ending restrictions on corporate and union political spending that had been in place since 1947, and fueling a surge in secret and independent spending in the 2010 elections. Outside groups spent more than $296 million on the 2010 Congressional midterms – a 330 percent increase over 2006 – with more than $135 million of that coming from undisclosed donors¸ according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Since that decision, information has come to light that raises serious questions about the impartiality of Justices Thomas and Scalia in the Citizens United case. It appears both justices have participated in political strategy sessions, perhaps while the case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the decision. With respect to Justice Thomas, there may also be an undisclosed financial conflict of interest due to his wife’s role as CEO of Liberty Central, a 501(c)(4) organization that stood to benefit from the decision and played an active role in the 2010 elections.

Until these questions are resolved, public debate over allegations of bias and conflicts of interest will serve to undermine the legitimacy of the Citizens United decision and erode public confidence in the integrity of our nation’s highest court. As Attorney General, you are ideally situated to address this matter, both in the interest of justice and in the interest of your client, the Federal Election Commission. The Commission was the losing party in Citizens United, but may now have legitimate grounds to seek reconsideration.

Full Story Here: Letter to the Department of Justice re: Conflicts of Interest in the Citizens United case – Common Cause.

5 Ways to Help Your Community Go Local

Buy Independent and Buy Local campaigns have a big effect, according to a new survey of independent businesses. Here’s how you can reap the benefits for your local economy.

For four consecutive years, Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) has undertaken a unique research project, surveying thousands of independent businesses across the United States about their holiday season sales figures. The results of ILSR’s latest survey (measuring sales for last Thanksgiving through Christmas) offered encouraging news for entrepreneurs battered by the recession and for organizations working to sustain vital communities.

Independent businesses in communities with an active Buy Independent / Buy Local (BIBL) campaign reported the strongest figures since the surveys began—a 5.6 percent increase over the previous holiday season. This increase was more than two and a half times the gain (2.1 percent) reported by independent businesses located in areas lacking such a campaign.

Full Story Here: 5 Ways to Help Your Community Go Local by Jeff Milchen.

Billy Bragg: Are you ready for the revolution?

Billy Bragg and his guitar have been summoning us to the barricades for the past three decades, and today he’s more hopeful for real change than ever before

‘Look out the window, Jon,” says Billy Bragg, bounding from a low-slung taupe armchair in a swish hotel room that’s every shade of brown. He’s still fired up from playing to 3,000 people the night before in an old cinema on the Commercial Road in east London, hard by the hallowed anti-fascist ground of Cable Street, and also the house where his mum was born: the last date of a triumphant UK tour on which that characteristically gruff, tender, fervent call to arms of his has – rejoice! – rarely felt more relevant.

With love songs and folk anthems and an unshakeable commitment to democratic socialism, Bragg and his guitar have been preaching a modest, very English kind of revolution from stages up and down the land for more than three decades now, and seriously, he’s seldom felt more hopeful something might come of it.

We look out of the fifth-floor window over the frozen rooftops of central London. “Is it cold out there?” he asks. “Is it very cold? Are there clouds – heavy clouds? It looks to me like it’s going to snow, Jon. Course, you can never say for sure. But there are things happening now that I’ve never seen before. Something’s moving.”

Full Story Here: Billy Bragg: Are you ready for the revolution? | From the Guardian | The Guardian.

The Fate of the Internet will be voted on THIS TUESDAY.

The Fate of the Internet will be voted on THIS TUESDAY. Have you done your part?

Net neutrality is complicated. At the core, though, is the question of whether the Internet will remain a level playing field. Millions of Americans depend on the Internet to express themselves, here on DailyKos, on YouTube, even on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

President Obama campaigned on the promise of Net Neutrality, but the rules that FCC Chairman Genachowski has proposed are not full Net Neutrality. Skype, Consumer Reports, Amazon, Credo, Netflix and Free Press agree that the proposed net neutrality rules are too weak to support.

Why?

1. Under the Genachowski proposal, cell carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile could legally block their customers from getting to DailyKos. More likely, they would block their customers from getting to Netflix, or Skype. Again, this would be legal; nobody to appeal to.

2. Under the Genachowski proposal, any Internet Service Provider (cable company, cell phone company, satellite, whatever) can take money from websites and give them a “fast lane.” Imagine you start a new photo-sharing site to compete with Flickr, but Flickr has paid millions of dollars so that their photos load twice as fast. Imagine that Comcast, which sells cable television service, slows competitor Netflix down so much that it’s unusable. Again, perfectly legal.

Full Story Here: Daily Kos: State of the Nation.

Ellsberg, Other Anti-War Protesters To Chain Themselves To White House Fence

Even as President Obama on Thursday attempts to put a good face on the war in Afghanistan, Vietnam-era whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and several dozen other anti-war protesters will be chaining themselves to the White House fence, inviting arrest in the name of peace.

“We are dedicated to exposing the true costs of war and militarism,” explained Mike Ferner, the president of Veterans for Peace, the group organizing Thursday’s Lafayette Square rally and civil disobedience.

“We’ve killed well over a million people. We’ve orphaned and displaced five times that number at least. And here in our own country, we’ve managed to throw millions of people of out work and out of their homes,” Ferner told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. “There is a connection there. That connection is the true cost of war.”

Citing information available for every city and state in America on the Cost of War website, the former Navy hospital corpsman noted that his hometown of Toledo alone has sent almost a billion dollars into the war effort.

Full Story Here: Ellsberg, Other Anti-War Protesters To Chain Themselves To White House Fence.

New York Times Actually Announces A Mass Progressive Demonstration in DC! Better Late Than Never!

From The New York Times:

September 26, 2010

Liberal Groups Planning to Rally on National Mall

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Hoping to overshadow last month’s large rally led by Glenn Beck that drew many Tea Party advocates and other conservatives, a coalition of liberal groups plan to descend on Washington on Saturday to make the case that they, and not the ascendant right, speak for America’s embattled middle class.

Predicting a crowd of more than 100,000, some 300 liberal groups — including the N.A.A.C.P., the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the National Council of La Raza and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force — are sponsoring a march on Saturday in the hope of transforming the national conversation so it focuses less on the Tea Party. The groups sponsoring the rally, which is called “One Nation Working Together,” say they hope to supplant what they say is the Tea Party’s divisiveness with a message of unity to promote jobs, justice and education.

“The Tea Party has been getting much more media attention than it deserves, and it’s been saying it represents the voice of middle-class America,” said George Gresham, president of 1199 S.E.I.U., a New York health care union local, who says his union has chartered 500 buses to carry 25,000 union members to the rally. “A lot of us feel we have to get a different voice out there speaking for working people, one respecting the diversity of this country, which the Tea Party does not.”

Full Story: New York Times Actually Announces A Mass Progressive Demonstration in DC! Better Late Than Never! | War Is A Crime .org.

The Tea Party Strikes Again — Time to Get Very Serious

The Right is on the march, and they must be cut off at the pass. AlterNet needs your support to keep up our work

The results are in, and they couldn’t be more clear. The Tea Party — whose members embrace crazy ideas like ending Social Security, closing down the Department of Education and pushing women out of the military, to name just a few –won another batch of primaries on Tuesday. Clearly, they are on a roll.

This round is led by Christine O’Donnell, who won Delaware’s GOP nomination for U.S. Senate Tuesday night. O’Donnell is a fringe right-wing ideologue. She has said there is “just as much, if not more, evidence supporting” the idea that “God created the Earth in six days” as there is for evolution. For O’Donnell, teaching creationism as science in public schools is a fine idea. She’s crusaded against masturbation, comparing it to adultery. She has said that taking the Bible out of public schools caused an escalation of school shootings.

With Tea Party victories across the land, we are facing an increasing danger that a score of extremists will enter our government. Even Karl Rove is scared. On the night of O’Donnell’s election victory, Rove slammed the GOP nominee, saying, “She said some nutty things” and “she doesn’t have a chance to win in the general election.” But many fear the self-destructive “screw the system” attitude spreading like wildfire will get these wacky candidates into the Senate. That means big trouble.

Full Story: The Tea Party Strikes Again — Time to Get Very Serious | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet.

Stewart, Colbert to Hold 10/30 Rallies

It’s “Fear!” v. “Simmer Down.” Satirists Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will hold competing and complimentary marches on Washington just days before the November elections, breaking the fourth wall and inserting themselves directly into the political debate in a way that might influence the November elections.

Appearing on each other’s shows tonight, the two men portrayed the 10/30 marches as representing the true divide in American politics: Stewart’s march is for people who want to “take it down a notch for America.” Colbert’s march is about “freaking out for fear,” he said, because there are a lot of things to fear. Although Stewart’s politics are left of center, his video montage of fear-mongers included Democrats who believe that President Bush was Hitler-esque and radical leftists who believe that 9/11 was an inside job.

Stewart and Colbert have disclaimed any interest in participating in politics. But the timing, and message, are undeniably political — and not helpful to conservatives. Audiences for both shows tend to be younger and more liberal than the older, conservative independents who watch Fox News. The events were conceived as a response of sorts to Glenn Beck’s recent “Restoring Honor” rally, which drew as much as 100,000 conservatives to the Washington mall on the anniversary of Marlin Luther King’s historical speech. I’d imagine that these rallies will draw counter-rallies, and that smart conservative folks will try to incorporate them in a way that helps Republicans as well.

Full Story: Stewart, Colbert to Hold 10/30 Rallies – Marc Ambinder – Politics – The Atlantic.

The Internet Belongs to Us — Tell the FCC to Stop the Dangerous Google/Verizon Deal

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski seems to see his role as a broker among corporate interests, not as their regulator. This has to change.

On August 19, the Federal Communications Commission will be in Minneapolis for a public hearing on the future of the Internet. The big question now looming over this hearing is whether the fate of the Internet has already been decided behind closed doors before the FCC has even heard what the public has to say.

This hearing should be an opportunity for the FCC Commissioners to learn from those outside of Washington, DC, as they deliberate over whether the Internet will be an open platform for public discussion and innovation or a private pathway for delivering commercial content. The two Commissioners who have agreed to attend, Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn, have been stalwart defenders of the public Interest.

By contrast, the Chairman of the FCC, Obama’s law school buddy Julius Genachowski, seems to see his role as a broker among corporate interests, not as their regulator. We have seen the results of that approach from Wall Street to the Deepwater Horizon. Now we are beginning to see it online.

Full Story: The Internet Belongs to Us — Tell the FCC to Stop the Dangerous Google/Verizon Deal | Media and Culture | AlterNet.

Motion to Amend

Sign The Petition:

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.

* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate “preemption” actions by global, national, and state governments.

Full Story: Motion to Amend | Move to Amend.

Economic Power: Boycott BP

“Boycott BP into bankruptcy” – said Cindy Sheehan. Amen.

Economic boycotts can be very powerful and change the world for the better. Sadly, too few Americans use their personal spending power to advance worthy goals. An immediate opportunity is for people to stop buying BP gasoline. After all, it is clear that BP acted irresponsibly and likely criminally in using offshore oil drilling technology that posed enormous risks to public and worker safety as well as our natural environment in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly far beyond.

Make BP suffer where it hurts, where it can truly harm them. Send a clear signal that we will get revenge as consumers with an environmental conscience. An immediate boycott of BP could do much to make the company compensate the incredible number of people that will suffer very much because of the humongous oil spill that should have been prevented. We cannot depend on BP acting responsibly; nor can we count on the government or the courts for delivering timely justice.

There is a Boycott BP page on Facebook. Show your support. Over at the Public Citizen Web site you can sign a petition: “Take the Beyond BP Pledge! Drive a car? Like the occasional fountain drink? Send a clear message to BP by boycotting its gas and retail store products. Don't spend a cent of your hard-earned money to feed the bottom line of a corporation that has a sordid history of negligence, willfully violates environmental regulations, and is spewing thousands and thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. I pledge to boycott BP for at least three months.” Public Citizen has also created a Facebook group “1,000,000 Strong to Boycott BP.”

Full Story: Economic Power: Boycott BP | Economy In Crisis.

K Street Protest: Dozens Storm D.C. Bank Branches, Block K Street Intersection

Dozens of noisy purple-shirted SEIU protesters stormed a Bank of America branch near the U.S. Capitol on Monday, forcing the bank to close down as confused customers looked on and tellers retreated to an interior room.

Other groups from SEIU and National People’s Action were set to stage protests at BofA’s and JPMorgan Chase’s lobby shops downtown as part of a daylong anti-K Street extravaganza.

A security guard told HuffPost the branch would be closed only temporarily.

From there, the group blocked an intersection in D.C.’s tiny Chinatown, then stopped by a Citibank branch. “Corporate greed has got to go!”

At 11:00 a.m., hundreds of protesters from SEIU and National People’s Action merged at the offices of Democratic superlobbyist Tony Podesta, who boasts Bank of America among his massive client list. “We’re fired up to take down Wall Street,” they chanted.

Full Story: K Street Protest: Dozens Storm D.C. Bank Branches, Block K Street Intersection.

7 arraigned after foreclosure protest at Stony Ridge

Seven people were arrested during the forced evacuation of a Stony Ridge house early Friday, including the homeowner who spent the week barricaded inside with several protesters in an attempt to resist eviction because of foreclosure.

The defendants appeared via video conference Friday afternoon in Perrysburg Municipal Court, all represented by attorney Terry Lodge. Judge Dwight Osterud released them on their own recognizance. Pretrial hearings will be scheduled later. The judge asked homeowner Keith Sadler if he understood that he could not return to his residence and he answered in the affirmative.

It took nearly two hours for authorities to arrest all in the home, including Mr. Sadler, 53, of Stony Ridge; Connie Smithingell, 20, of Perrysburg; Bryan Baumgartner, of Toledo, 19; Nicholas Botek, 23, of Maumee; Jessica Angelov, 20, of Oregon; Daniel Orange, 25, of Toledo; and Johnny W. Kutsch, Jr., 22, of Oregon.

Full Story: toledoblade.com — The Blade ~ Toledo Ohio.

Ask the Senate to vote on an amendment to audit the Federal Reserve

Sign our letter to the Senate:

“It’s time to end the secrecy surrounding the Federal Reserve and bring greater accountability to our financial system.

I join the bipartisan group of Senators Bernie Sanders, Russ Feingold, Ron Wyden, Chuck Grassley, Jim DeMint and Sam Brownback, as well as Reps. Alan Grayson and Ron Paul, in calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve to make public the recipients of over $2 trillion in bailouts during the financial crisis.”

The Federal Reserve, the central bank for the United States, spent more than $2 trillion in secret bailouts for big banks during the financial crisis.

Problem is, it’s refusing to give any details about how it spent that huge sum of money.

If we can audit the Fed, we can find out how it propped up which big banks, bringing accountability to our financial system.

Auditing the Fed could restore the public’s trust in our financial system, and help us avoid another mismanaged disaster from occurring. With your help, we can end the historic secrecy surrounding the Fed.

Full Story: action.firedoglake.com | Ask the Senate to vote on an amendment to audit the Federal Reserve.

PROTECT NET NEUTRALITY NOW!! — Video

We only have 2 days from now to send in those notes!

URGENT CALL TO ACTION – PLEASE WATCH NOW

Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322)
TTY: 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322)
Fax: 1-866-418-0232
E-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov

The Courts Can’t Take Away Our Internet

| Save the Internet -

Today’s ruling for Comcast by the DC Circuit Court could be the biggest blow to our nation’s primary communications platform, or it could be the kick in the pants our leaders need to finally protect it. Either way, the future of the Internet, the fight for Net Neutrality, and the expansion of broadband is hanging in the balance.

The court ruled that the Federal Communications Commission lacks the authority under existing legal framework to enforce rules that keep Internet service providers from blocking and controlling Internet traffic. The decision puts the FCC’s Net Neutrality proceeding and the National Broadband Plan in jeopardy.

The court ruled in favor of ISP Comcast, which was caught blocking BitTorrent Internet traffic in 2007 and contested the FCC’s attempts to stop the company. The decision has made it near impossible for the FCC to follow through with plans to create strong Net Neutrality protections that keep the Internet out of the hands of corporations. Additionally, without authority over broadband, the decision means the FCC will be hamstrung when it comes to implementing portions of its just released broadband plan.

Full Story: The Courts Can’t Take Away Our Internet | Save the Internet.

Taking action for World Water Day

There are still 900 million people who don’t have a safe water supply – and not always in the places you expect

This is a tale of two countries – one landlocked, with two-thirds of its harsh environment given over to desert and where rainfall is thought to be reducing; the other low lying, with millions of inhabitants squeezed onto narrow spits of land prone to severe monsoon flooding.

They may be continents apart, each with their own set of problems, but in both, girls miss out on school because they spend hours fetching water. Mothers give birth with no access to clean water. Children are dying from chronic diarrhoea. Livelihoods are put on hold through illness and hospital beds are full.

Water is life. That might sound hackneyed, but believe me there has never been a more potent truism – especially when today, World Water Day, there are still nearly 900 million people across the world who don’t have access to a safe water supply.

Full Story: Taking action for World Water Day | Barbara Frost | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

20 Principles for Successful Community Organizing

Kahn’s new book, “Creative Community Organizing: a Guide for Rabble-Rousers, Activists and Quiet Lovers of Justice,” is a manifesto for the politically active.

I’ve been a rabble-rouser and social activist for 45 of my almost 66 years, and have made my living as a professional civil rights, labor, and community organizer, as well as a performer. In my new political memoir, Creative Community Organizing: A Guide for Rabble-Rousers, Activists, and Quiet Lovers of Justice (Berrett-Koehler, 2010), I relate stories from some of the great social reform campaigns in recent American history, of which I’ve been privileged to play a part–including the Southern Civil Rights Movement, the

Click image to buy it now

Harlan County coal miner’s strike, and the fight to abolish for-profit prisons and immigrant family detention. The book has lessons that I hope will inspire and motivate a new generation of community organizers and young activists–and anyone else who seeks to make an impact in their communities, from musicians and soccer moms, to teachers and politicians.

What follows is a list of take-away lessons and principles, a sort of manifesto for today’s community organizers.

“Freedom, freedom is a hard won thing, and every generation has to win it again.”

Full Story: 20 Principles for Successful Community Organizing | Books | AlterNet.

Antiwar Activists Plan Nationwide Protests to Mark Seventh Anniversary of Iraq Invasion

Antiwar activists are gearing up to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq with a weeklong series of events to protest the ongoing occupation of the country.

The US invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. Then-President George W. Bush and top administration officials told the American people Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the US, had concealed weapons of mass destruction and helped plan the 9/11 attacks.

But that was a lie. Former Bush administration officials have said publicly that the Iraq war was planned weeks after the Bush was sworn into office and that intelligence reports that claimed Iraq was a threat that intelligence reports that claimed Iraq was a threat were cooked up by analysts under pressure by Vice President Dick Cheney and his senior staffers. And government reports have been released since the invasion documenting the nearly 1,000 lies the Bush administration used to sell the war to the American public.

Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Antiwar Activists Plan Nationwide Protests to Mark Seventh Anniversary of Iraq Invasion.

Citizens take on DC Government over Tax Giveaways to Defense Contractor Northrop Grumman

“I originally supported the $25 million offer to Northrop Grumman, but I have since had second thoughts. With the city facing a $200-300 million deficit, I see no reason to subsidize a multi-billion-dollar war machine.”

–DC City Councilman Marion Barry, March 10 in a telephone interview

A major struggle is brewing in the nation’s capitol about the city’s proposal to offer of $25 million in subsidies and grants to the mammoth defense contractor Northrop Grumman. The legislation was originally sponsored by seven of the City Council’s 13 members and supported by Mayor Adrian Fenty, but now that the DC community is mobilizing against the corporate giveaway, council members are having second thoughts.

On January 4 newly-hired CEO Wesley Bush announced that Northrop Grumman would move its headquarters from the Century City area of Los Angeles to the Washington metropolitan area by 2011. Bush wants his executives closer to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and to officials in the military and intelligence communities that make up the vast majority of Northrop’s business. The company has already has been buying influence in Washington through an army of lobbyists, outspending its larger rivals Lockheed Martin and Boeing by more than $25 million between 1998 and 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The move will only increase its ability to land lucrative defense contracts.

Full Story: Citizens take on DC Government over Tax Giveaways to Defense Contractor Northrop Grumman | CommonDreams.org.

15 Reasons Why We Need a Revolt in This Country

Government works quite well for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and powerful. But it does not work for people.

It is time for a revolution. Government does not work for regular people. It appears to work quite well for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and po

werful. But it does not work for people.

The 1776 Declaration of Independence stated that when a long train of abuses by those in power evidence a design to reduce the rights of people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is the peoples right, in fact their duty to engage in a revolution.

Martin Luther King, Jr., said forty three years ago next month that it was time for a radical revolution of values in the United States. He preached “a true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies.” It is clearer than ever that now is the time for radical change.

Look at what our current system has brought us and ask if it is time for a revolution?

Full Story: 15 Reasons Why We Need a Revolt in This Country | | AlterNet.

WATCH: Colleges Protest Tuition Hikes, Budget Cuts and Racial Discrimination (VIDEOS)

Growing tuition hikes. Increasing budget cuts. Rising racial tension in campuses during the so-called “post-racial” Age of Obama. It's been a very busy month for student activism in America's colleges — and not just on March 4, when thousands of students took the streets, especially in California.

Here are some of the MUST-SEE videos of student protests.

Full Story: WATCH: Colleges Protest Tuition Hikes, Budget Cuts and Racial Discrimination (VIDEOS).

Unions Plan Protests Against Big Banks

In an action it hopes would create jobs and increase economic fairness, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. announced on Wednesday that it will sponsor two “Weeks of Action” against the nation’s major banks.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s main federation of labor unions, said it would hold demonstrations from March 15 through March 30 at banks in 200 cities, with the slogan, “Good Jobs Now, Make Wall Street Pay.”

Speaking at the federation’s winter meeting here, Denise Mitchell, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s communications director, said the dozens of demonstrations would have three goals: getting banks to pay their “fair share,” getting banks to stop fighting tougher new banking regulations and getting banks to lend more to “Main Street” and small businesses.

Full Story: Unions Plan Protests Against Big Banks – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com.

California Readies For Day Of Action

University of California students are gearing up for Thursday, Mar. 4, the state’s designated Student Day of Action to protest higher education budget cuts. But with the events of last week, including a spate of racial incidents at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, the day has come to hold a greater significance.

According to the blog StudentActivism.net, Mar. 4 has become a countrywide phenomenon — 100 events are scheduled in 28 states to protest the condition of higher education in America The UC Regent Live(blog) has a full schedule of tomorrow’s events across in California, including film screenings, marches and rallies.

Yesterday, hundreds of UC students traveled to Sacramento to protest the myriad issues afflicting the state school system and what they view as a flimsy response from the system’s administration in response. At UC Berkeley, two hundred students, clad completely in black, gathered for nearly three hours to bring attention to the racial tension on their campus and others in the system. In Sacramento, two Berkeley students were arrested while lobbying Assemblyman Jim Nielsen (R-Yuba City) to sign a letter pledging more support to schools.

Full Story: California Readies For Day Of Action.

Thousands Looking for an Alternative to Frothing Teabagging Crowd Find Refuge in Newly Formed ‘Coffee Party’

Tapping into widespread thirst for a potential alternative to the Tea Party movement, the Coffee Party is launching real life, off-line, on-the-ground activity across the country.

It might have been inevitable that the answer to the movement that calls itself the Tea Party would be labeled the Coffee Party, but it wasn’t exactly by design.

“[L]et’s start a coffee party … smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea,” activist and filmmaker Annabel Park wrote on her Facebook page one day in January, adding, jokingly, “ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss ‘em off bec it sounds elitist … let’s get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.”

Little did Park know that the idea would seriously catch on, tapping into widespread thirst for a potential alternative to the Tea Party movement and launching real life, off-line, on-the-ground activity across the country.

This, anyway, is the story as told by the Washington Post last week, in a profile of Park and her fellow “Coffee Party activists,” who are portrayed as the progressive response to the right-wing Tea Partiers. It’s a bit of a false dichotomy and some of the comparisons are dubious (“The Coffee Party believes the middle is consensus. The Tea Party believes the middle is the Constitution”), but it’s more than a little heartening to see a media spotlight on people who are working to push back against the Tea Party right.

Full Story: Thousands Looking for an Alternative to Frothing Teabagging Crowd Find Refuge in Newly Formed ‘Coffee Party’ | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.

Direct Action Time: Stop the insurance companies!

Sometimes it’s not enough to rally for reform. Sometimes it’s not enough to protest your enemies. Sometimes, you have to take direct action

And so, the street movement for health reform escalates on March 9th.

On March 9th at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, DC, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the insurance industry’s main lobbyist group, is holding a conference on health reform. The topics for the conference comprise a virtual playbook on how to kill or maim health reform. Some of the planned sessions include:

• Health Care Reform: What Role Does the Media Play? (translation: How can insurance companies work the press to kill reform?)
• Addressing Health Care Market Reform through an Insurance Exchange: Essential Policy Components (led in part by a fellow from the right-wing Heritage Foundation)
• American Public Opinion on Health Reform: Implications for Mid-term Elections (translation: How can we dupe the public by lying about reform and beat politicians who are standing up for the popular parts of reform)

AHIP recommends health insurance company CEOs, executives, lawyers, and others attend

Full Story: Direct Action Time: Stop the insurance companies! | The Seminal.

Arianna Discusses The Move Your Money Campaign On CBS Sunday Morning (VIDEO)

The “Move Your Money” campaign was featured on CBS Sunday Morning this week. Arianna appeared on the show to talk about why moving money out of big banks and into smaller banks is important:

“JP Morgan, Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo — these banks, that have received taxpayer money, that have been bailed out by the taxpayer, have not done their job at helping small businesses, at lending, so that the economy can start again, and start producing jobs.”

WATCH:

Full Story: Huff TV: Arianna Discusses The Move Your Money Campaign On CBS Sunday Morning (VIDEO).

Robert Greenwald discusses Stop the Kennedy Smears on CNN’s Reliable Sources

Robert Greenwald discusses Stop the Kennedy Smears on CNN’s Reliable Sources

Sign the petition

It’s time to end the filibuster

The American people are sick of process blocking progress. They’re fed up with an arbitrary tradition that allows a minority of Senators to prevent popular, much-needed legislation from even coming to a vote.

Frankly, so am I.

Please sign this petition to my colleagues in the Senate, supporting the Harkin-Shaheen proposal or other similar proposals to eliminate the crippling 60-vote requirement to overcome a filibuster.

Thank you,

Dick Durbin

U.S. Senator

Full Petition Text:

Dear United States Senators,

I urge you to support the Harkin-Shaheen proposal or similar proposals to eliminate the crippling 60-vote cloture requirement. These challenging times call for more progress, not more process. And that means we need to revisit the filibuster, which has allowed a minority in Congress to prevent popular, much-needed legislation from even coming to a vote…..

Full Story: Take Action: It’s time to end the filibuster.

Berkeley RIOT: Fire, Destruction (video)

Overnight, an impromptu riot to protest budget cuts and tuition increases at the University of California-Berkeley snowballed to include more than 200 students and resulted in flaming dumpsters, broken windows and dancing in the streets.

The Daily Californian reports that the riot emerged from a campus dance party and metastasized into an all-out fiery clash between students and police.

Officers physically pushed the crowd back so that Berkeley fire personnel could extinguish the flames. Sporadic fights broke out within the crowd, causing police to advance their line on the growing mob and use batons to push it back.

Members of the crowd hurled glass bottles, plastic buckets, pizza and other objects at the police line. The crowd's size and intensity fluctuated as the police and protesters clashed and multiple members of the crowd were detained by police.

Full Story: Berkeley RIOT: Fire, Destruction (WATCH) (UPDATED).

OPS:  In the 60′s this sort of thing began in Berkley also

Heather Graham and MoveOn Team Up for Huge Push on Congress to Pass the Public Option

Progressive Change’s Adam Green accuses the White House of having a ‘loser mentality’ on the public option despite public support, and MoveOn unleashes Heather Graham

If you followed the cues sent by the White House, you’d think the public option was dead. But on the heels of polls showing strong public support for a government health care plan, activists are pushing back hard — and getting results.

Just days ahead of President Obama’s bipartisan health care summit, scheduled for Thursday, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee announced that it, together with CREDO Action and Democracy for America, has succeeded in getting the signatures of 120 House members and 23 senators on letters pledging their support for passing a public option through the reconciliation process, a parliamentary maneuver that cannot be blocked by a Senate filibuster. And MoveOn.org Political Action, declaring, “THE PUBLIC OPTION IS BACK,” released a new version of its ad featuring actress Heather Graham (of Austin Powers fame) personifying the public option in a race against older, unattractive and out-of-shape insurance company executives. (Video at the bottom of this story.)

Full Story: Heather Graham and MoveOn Team Up for Huge Push on Congress to Pass the Public Option | News & Politics | AlterNet.

Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home Ahead Of Foreclosure

Like many people, Terry Hoskins has had troubles with his bank. But his solution to foreclosure might be unique.

Hoskins said he’s been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade, a struggle that was coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home.

“When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000, and someone decides they want to take it – no, I wasn’t going to stand for that, so I took it down,” Hoskins said.

Full Story: Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home Ahead Of Foreclosure – Cincinnati News Story – WLWT Cincinnati.

Diane Sawyer Talks About Move Your Money On ABC ‘World News’ (VIDEO)

Diane Sawyer updated ABC World News’ viewers about Move Your Money on Wednesday night, noting that the campaign could lead to $5 billion in New Mexico state funds being transferred from big banks to local banks.

According to Sawyer, one local lawmaker said, “The funds would be safer in institutions that don’t harvest profits from greed and recklessness.”

As Arianna pointed out on the broadcast, “People are really eager to move beyond anger and frustration into action.” The grassroots movement has spurred roughly 3 million people to research how they can take action on MoveYourMoney.info.

WATCH:

Full Story Huff TV: Diane Sawyer Talks About Move Your Money On ABC ‘World News’ (VIDEO).

Credit Card Protester Takes Campaign To MSNBC (VIDEO)

John Clinton Tuttle took his campaign against credit cards to the airwaves on Wednesday.

(video at link)

“What has gone on for the last 30 years has been outrageous and it’s surprising to me there isn’t more outrage,” said Tuttle on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan Show. “I just felt somebody’s gotta do something and I’m gonna take a crack at it.”

How’s he doing that? By sticking bank-bashing fliers on ATM machines throughout Seattle, and encouraging people across the country to do the same. He’s started a group called Credit Card Holders United and launched a website: www.creditcardrevolt.com. Don’t miss the YouTube videos.

The Huffington Post first reported Tuttle’s sticker campaign on Monday. His goal is “ethical reform” of the credit card industry — he wants a 15 percent interest rate cap and better disclosure of fees and rates.

WATCH Tuttle on MSNBC:

Full Story Credit Card Protester Takes Campaign To MSNBC (VIDEO).

How to Maintain a Democratic “Activist” Base

As the military surges into Afghanistan and Pakistan and Xe Services LLC (formerly known as Blackwater) and the CIA eke into Pakistan and Yemen, the appetites of toadyish liberal analysts demand their daily diet of Republican bogeys. The changeling base must be kept in line, despite the lack of any change at all. Change you can believe must continually slide seamlessly into belief you can change.

Barack Obama is a soporific for liberals, but such a pill, the affected change rhetoric that is, has to wear off after awhile, especially as reality piles up like record dead soldiers in Afghanistan. So how do the Obamapologists keep the righteous liberal indignation at a fever pitch?

Not to worry, for a ready corps of reactionaries will rise to the occasion, such that the wars, the bailouts, the foreclosures, and stagnant unemployment go on without too much Democratic complaint. A right-wing nut like Ollie North will surely come forth to say something ludicrous: the open acceptance of gays in the military will lead to pedophilia, bestiality, and necrophilia. Inordinate press coverage will be given to a marginal cadre of Tea Partiers, who suggest that a literacy test would have kept Obama out of office. Liberal and reactionary bases will salivate at the prospect of a new culture wars as they beat the dead horse of identity politics. Liberal indignation will be directed it at the insane, and the insane will provide an obscene spectacle to justify the indignation.

Full Story Citizens For Legitimate Government.

How to Get Our Democracy Back: Lawrence Lessig Says “If We Want to Change, We Have to Change Congress”

In a cover story of The Nation magazine, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig writes, “At the center of our government lies a bankrupt institution: Congress. Not financially bankrupt, at least not yet, but politically bankrupt.” He goes on to argue that, “Congress is the core of the problem with American democracy today. In a single line: There will be no change until we change Congress.”

Full Story How to Get Our Democracy Back: Lawrence Lessig Says “If We Want to Change, We Have to Change Congress” | CommonDreams.orgV.

Fury at Wall St. Banks Fuels Public Action for Move Your Money Campaign

The banking behemoths have used our dollars to destroy our economy. The Move Your Money campaign says we don’t have to wait for financial reform to fight back.

Since the burst of the financial bubble in 2008, and surely before, millions of Americans have watched as their life savings dwindled to fumes. Unemployment has held steady at 10 percent or above (among minority groups, it will likely hit the 20s this year) and one in five Americans went hungry last year. As the human recession has worsened, Congress has been slow to act to quell it, while they’ve rushed to the aid of too-big-to-fail banks.

A new campaign called Move Your Money aims to tackle the frustrations with the Wall Street banks, and the politicians they’ve bought off, head on. The campaign is based on a simple idea: Americans ought to move their money from the big banks — that took billions in taxpayer money and continue to foist outrageous interest rates even as they cut lending –  to local financial institutions that actually are a part of their communities. Move the money back home.

Full Story Fury at Wall St. Banks Fuels Public Action for Move Your Money Campaign | Economy | AlterNet.

Senator Sherrod Brown Petition: Stand With Me Against Pay-to-Play Electioneering

Corporations and Big Banks are now allowed UNLIMITED spending to influence political elections.

The recent 5-4 Supreme Court decision lifted campaign spending limits for corporations. Now if the big banks on Wall Street don’t like what Congress proposes, they can DIRECTLY try to buy a legislature more to their liking.

Stand with me to demand no corporation may spend from its treasury without the express approval of its owners. If the Supreme Court is going to treat corporations as persons with full First Amendment rights, then you and I need to make sure real people are making those decisions. Sign the petition!

Full Story Sherrod Brown | U.S. Senator for Ohio | Petition: Stand With Me Against Pay-to-Play Electioneering.

Throw Out Bernanke!

It’s up to progressives to take action around Bernanke, Haiti, anti-choice ads, and the corporate take-over of our democracy. Get involved now!

We find ourselves in a rather curious political moment. In the 2008 election cycle, Americans kicked the neo-cons out of office and landed Barack Obama in the White House — with a filibuster-proof Democratic majority in Congress, to boot.

As President Obama prepares for his first State of the Union tomorrow, his address will likely contain many of the hope-and-change flourishes that won him the presidency, but it will also underscore how many of Democratic and independent voters’ goals — particularly those of liberals and progressives — were not met in this first year. The speech also comes soon after Ted Kennedy’s four-decade Senate seat was turned over to a TeaParty-boosted Republican, highlighting the fact that the sweeping reforms we need may be even harder to come by here on out.

Full Story AlterNet Take Action: Throw Out Bernanke! | News & Politics | AlterNet.

WATCH: Members Of Congress Talk About Moving Their Money To Small Banks

Members of Congress considering moving their money from major financial institutions to community banks have some of the same concerns ordinary customers do, according to interviews progressive video blogger Mike Stark conducted this week on Capitol Hill.

The Huffington Post searched financial disclosure forms filed by members of Congress and found that at least 53 senators use one of the nation’s biggest six banks for their personal accounts. Information wasn’t available for another 17. In the House, at least 104 members use big banks; at least 119 already use only small banks or credit unions. Information wasn’t available for the rest. [Scroll down to find out where your senators and representative bank.]

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) told Stark that she began looking into moving her money from big banks to small ones when she heard about the campaign and thought it was a “great idea,” but wanted to look into it.

Full Story WATCH: Members Of Congress Talk About Moving Their Money To Small Banks.

Bill Maher On Ending Abusive Relationships – With Your Bank

Author Bill Maher describes a new project developed by Arianna Huffington to end the abuse we’ve received from the big 6 banks.

10 Courageous Things You Can Do to Build Community

Building strong communities is critical, hard work. I feel it’s one of the most courageous, important things each of us can do every day.

We can speed up the realization of good community building ideas if we live our lives consistent with community priorities. The good news: practically every activity and every moment grants us the opportunity to practice community-minded behavior.

Here are 10 ways you can start the courageous work of building community today.

Full Story 10 Courageous Things You Can Do to Build Community by Milenko Matanovic — YES! Magazine.

Move Your Money Campaign Helps Trustco Bank

Aside from taking the media world by storm, the Move Your Money campaign is having a real-world effect.

Albany’s WTEN reports that Glenville-based Trustco Bank has seen a surge in business ever since the Move Your Money campaign began calling for consumers to stop lining the pockets of the too-big-to-fail banks and to support their local community banks. Trustco saw 30 new accounts opened in one day, including one worth seven-figures.

Bank officials say that other branches of the bank are seeing similar results.

Watch the report below:

Full Story Move Your Money Campaign Helps Trustco Bank.

The Religious Case for Moving Your Money Where Your Heart Is

In my sermon at the Princeton University Chapel this Christmas, I brought in good, old George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life. My reference to It’s a Wonderful Life was to pose the troubling question of which portrait looked more familiar: the bucolic final scene of Bedford Falls, or George’s nightmare of the brutal and callous Pottersville? Which depiction of America was a closer representation of the economic reality as we enter the second decade of the 21st century? One of the questions I asked my congregation to consider was the moral agency each of us possess to do good in this world by fulfilling God’s desire for the economic well being of all humanity.

A week later I heard about the Move Your Money movement, went to the website moveyourmoney.info and coincidentally saw a video that featured George Bailey vs. Potter. The video uses these archetypes to set up the distinction between big banks and community banks. The site encourages us to shift at least part of our money out of the banks that were too big to fail, and are now too big to loan money, and into community banks which are more likely to serve the needs of local people.

Full Story Paul Raushenbush: The Religious Case for Moving Your Money Where Your Heart Is.

Jonathon Slack, Second Grader, Organizes Community Effort To Help Homeless

A Chicagoland second grader proved that you don’t have to be big to be a big help to the homeless, NBC reports.

After seeing a homeless woman during a holiday trip to Chicago, Jonathon Slack, a seven-year-old boy from Orland Park, led a 10-day donation drive, collecting over four truckloads of food and toys for a Chicago shelter.

The boy, after brainstorming ways to help a homeless woman he saw in front of a Macy’s store, decided to write a letter to his community asking them to pitch in. He dropped photocopies around his neighborhood and the collective response was massive: In just over a week, four truckloads of food and toys were sent to the Su Casa Catholic Worker homeless shelter in Chicago.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Full Story Jonathon Slack, Second Grader, Organizes Community Effort To Help Homeless.

Consumers Are Moving Their Money to Credit Unions, Rising Membership Shows

Make a New Year’s resolution to move your money out of big banks? To that I say: Right on! Without question, financial consumers are angry at — and have lost their loyalty to — big banks. Late-night comics routinely make fun of the banks; there’s even a new iPhone app in which players try to stop “cash-hungry” bankers from wheedling more bailout money from the U.S. Treasury, according to a recent report in American Banker newspaper.

But if consumers do indeed move their money out of big banks, they would be well advised to look not only at community banks, but at the nation’s credit unions. In fact, consumers are already voting with their wallets in favor of credit unions. The data collected by my organization, (the Credit Union National Association — the industry’s trade group) shows that credit unions are on pace to post 2% membership growth in 2009. This is the fastest rate we have seen since 2001 and double the rate of U.S. population growth, bringing total credit union membership to nearly 93 million Americans. We think disenchantment with banks explains at least part — and probably a large part — of that growth in new members.

For consumers, the move makes perfect sense. Credit unions are not-for-profit cooperatives, and they’re owned by their members. They offer the same products and services banks do, but unlike banks, credit unions exist only to serve their members — not to generate profits for outside investors. Members typically experience that difference in the form of better rates and lower fees. In 2008 (the latest data we have available), consumers saved $9.2 billion by using credit unions rather than banks, or the equivalent of $104 per member and $198 per family. And that’s just on average. Loyal members — those who use credit unions extensively — often receive total financial benefits that are much greater than the average.

Full Story Daniel Mica: Consumers Are Moving Their Money to Credit Unions, Rising Membership Shows.

Move Your Money Success Stories

Nearly a week ago, Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson launched the Move Your Money campaign urging Americans to send a message to big, bailed-out national banks by joining smaller, more stable community banks. Huffington Post readers responded almost immediately.

With the help of the IRA (Institutional Risk Analytics) database, readers moved their money to local banks and shared their stories with the rest of the HuffPost community. Through thousands of comments, banking consumers from San Diego, California to Bar Harbor, Maine and everywhere in between recounted both stories of frustration about their dealings with national banks and histories of supportive relationships with their local banks.

At a national level, a large number of readers criticized big banks for unexplained hikes in interest rates and unruly fees charged, sometimes, for no apparent reason.

One reader described a rate hike on her credit card with Citibank after years of loyalty:

Full Story Move Your Money Success Stories.

Campaign to Amend US Constitution and revoke corporate “rights” – Personhood

National coordinated campaign unites to revoke corporate “constitutional rights”

ReclaimDemocracy.org and a broad alliance of grassroots pro-democracy groups are preparing to make 2010 a breakthrough year for the Democracy Movement. To accomplish this, we’re building the broadest coalition yet to confront and revoke runaway corporate power. The focus: amending the U.S. Constitution to overturn the Court-created notion of applying constitutional rights to corporations.

While we have been calling for this action for almost the entire decade of our existence, we now find the idea reaching a “tipping point” among many other organizations.

A Teachable Moment
The Campaign to Legalize Democracy will debut publicly the day the U.S. Supreme Court announces a ruling in the potential landmark case, Citizens United v Federal Election Commission. Despite enormous anger over public subsidies, systematic credit card rip-offs, and more, it’s widely expected the Court will give corporations even greater power over our government by allowing company funds to be spent in efforts to elect or defeat political candidates. If this happens, we will work quickly to channel anger where it needs to go: overruling the Court.

And after campaigning to bring “change” to Americans that included public health insurance and taking on Wall Street, President Obama and Congress have demonstrated they either are unwilling or unable to challenge the power of pharmaceutical, insurance, and financial corporations to correct our nation’s most urgent problems

Full Story Campaign to Amend US Constitution and revoke corporate “rights”.

MOVE YOUR MONEY

The Move Your Money Project

A 4 min video worth your time

For more, go to http://moveyourmoney.info

What It Takes to Build a Movement

Successful political movements do not spring fully formed. They require long-term, nuts-and-bolts organizing.

By MARK RUDD -

When Spontaneity Fails …

Since the summer of 2003, I’ve crisscrossed the country speaking at colleges and theaters and bookstores, first with The Weather Underground documentary and, starting in March of this year, with my book, Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen (William Morrow, 2009). In discussions with young people, they often tell me, “Nothing anyone does can ever make a difference.”

The words still sound strange: it’s a phrase I never once heard forty years ago, a sentiment obviously false on its surface. Growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, I – and the rest of the country – knew about the civil rights movement in the South, and what was most evident was that individuals, joining with others, actually were making a difference. The labor movement of the Thirties to the Sixties had improved the lives of millions; the anti-war movement had brought down a sitting president – LBJ, March 1968 – and was actively engaged in stopping the Vietnam War. In the forty years since, the women’s movement, gay rights, disability rights, animal rights, and environmental movements have all registered enormous social and political gains. To old new lefties, such as myself, this is all self-evident.

So, why the defeatism? In the absence of knowledge of how these historical movements were built, young people assume that they arose spontaneously, or, perhaps, charismatic leaders suddenly called them into existence. On the third Monday of every January we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. having had a dream; knowledge of the movement itself is lost.

Full Story Mark Rudd: What It Takes to Build a Movement.

Chris Hedges: “We Live in a Time of Radical Evil!”

On Sat., Dec. 12, 2009, Chris Hedges, journalist/author, was one of the speakers at the emergency “End-the-U.S.-Wars” rally. See, for background: http://www.enduswars.org/ The event was held in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House.

Full Story YouTube – Chris Hedges: “We Live in a Time of Radical Evil!”.

Dick Durbin U.S. Senator Illinois – Take Action

Public Option Poll

Virtually every poll now shows most people support a robust public option to expand health insurance choice and offer coverage to more Americans. But there are several interpretations of what a public option should look like, and the American people should not settle for a “public option” in name only.

Please rank your preferences for each form of the public option currently under consideration.

Full Story Dick Durbin U.S. Senator Illinois – Take Action – DickDurbin.com :: Public Option Poll.

Protesters Return To Lieberman’s D.C. Office, Six Arrested

Protesters returned to the office of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on Tuesday, staging a theatrical demonstration and urging the senator to stop taking money from health insurance corporations. Six demonstrators were arrested after spreading fake dollar bills throughout the building showing Lieberman’s face and the words “Insurance Money Kills Democracy.”

Lieberman has stated that he would help to filibuster any bill that included a government-run public option.

About a dozen demonstrators came to the Senate’s Hart office building in the morning and asked Lieberman’s aides to bring him out to pledge to stop accepting campaign contributions from insurance companies. Lieberman had left his office a matter of minutes before the protesters arrived, on his way to a Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing.

After being denied a meeting with the senator, one protester pulled out a cardboard cutout of Lieberman’s face and marched throughout the building, pretending to return insurance company contributions. She scattered fake money in the hallways and into the building’s large foyer. “I’ve had a change of heart,” she yelled, “Senator Lieberman’s giving the money back; he doesn’t need it anymore!”

Full Story Protesters Return To Lieberman’s D.C. Office, Six Arrested.

A Petition Establishing Health Care as a Civil Right

Dennis Kucinich

Whereas, Universal Health Care was proposed by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1912; and

Whereas today, nearly 100 years later, 47 million Americans are uninsured and another 50 million are underinsured bringing great social and economic harm to the American family; and

Whereas, HR 676, authored by Congressmen John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich provides for Medicare for All, a universal, single payer, not-for-profit health care system which means the end of premiums, copays and deductibles; and

Whereas we are already paying for a universal standard of care but are not getting it because one of every three dollars in the health care system goes to the activities of the for-profit insurance system; and

Whereas HR676 firmly establishes health care as a Civil Right, consistent with the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States and Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution which defines a purpose of government “to promote the General Welfare,” now therefore,

I HEREBY EXPRESS MY STRONG SUPPORT FOR HR676, SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE, AND THE PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR WHICH IT STANDS:

Full Story kucinich.us – A Petition Establishing Health Care as a Civil Right.

Want Obama To Be Bolder? Take To The Streets!

Arianna Huffington and Drew Westen earlier this week posted persuasive arguments that Barack Obama, as president, should govern the way he campaigned for the job: Fired up, with an unswerving focus on changing the status quo and standing up for the people against the vested interests that thrive on politics as usual. Compared to Obama the campaigner, Obama the president has been remarkably timid and conciliatory.

One theory is that what we’re seeing is Obama’s background as a community organizer coming to the foreground. And as many critics have pointed out, with plenty of justification, the community organizer tendency to seek consensus can look pretty darn naïve and ineffective when one of the parties simply has no interest in compromise — and indeed sees obstruction as its primary goal.

But there’s another part of the community organizing analogy that’s been widely overlooked.

Community organizers take strength from the community.

Full Story Want Obama To Be Bolder? Take To The Streets!.

Civil unrest has a role in stopping climate change, says Gore

Ahead of Copenhagen summit, former US vice-president says ‘non-violent lawbreaking’ is legitimate in persuading governments to cut emissions

Al Gore has sought to inject fresh momentum into the Copenhagen build-up, saying he is certain Barack Obama will attend and predicting a rise in civil disobedience against fossil-fuel polluters unless drastic action is taken over global warming.

Amid increasing incidents of climate protesters disrupting the operations of fossil-fuel industries and airports in Britain and elsewhere, Gore suggests the scale of the emergency means non-violent lawbreaking is justified. “Civil disobedience has an honourable history, and when the urgency and moral clarity cross a certain threshold, then I think that civil disobedience is quite understandable, and it has a role to play,” he says. “And I expect that it will increase, no question about it.”

In his only UK newspaper interview to mark the publication of his new book, entitled Our Choice, Gore says it is crucial for Obama to attend Copenhagen in person, adding: “I feel certain that he will.”

Full Story Civil unrest has a role in stopping climate change, says Gore | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

TYT Army: Join Us 11/5/09 For The Public Option!

We’re going to CNN headquarters in NY, LA and Atlanta on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 at 12pm local time* to show that there are people willing to stand up for the public option (Why CNN? See Cenk’s blog at the bottom of this post). Votes are coming up in the Senate and the House and the fate of healthcare reform hangs in the balance right now. If you want the public option, this is the time to fight! Here is the link to the Facebook Events where you can see who else is coming and coordinate in your area.

And here are the addresses of the three locations (*Note: 12pm local time is 12pm PST in LA and 12pm EST in ATL and NY):

CNN Los Angeles (Cenk, Ana and the rest of the Turks will be there!)
6430 W Sunset Blvd Ste 300
Los Angeles, CA 90028

CNN Atlanta
190 Marietta St, NW
Atlanta, GA 30303

CNN New York
10 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019

For more details on the demonstrations including why CNN has been targeted, read Cenk’s blog. And be sure to invite your friends, family, classmates and coworkers to join you or take your place if you can’t make it!

YouTube – TYT Army: Join Us 11/5/09 For The Public Option!.