Platitudes aside, if you are at all interested in the budget of the United States of America you owe it to yourself to at least compare the 3 options on the table. In spite of the warm and fuzzy comments emanating from many of the progressive media sources yesterday, President Obama's budget talk is not a budget and lacks details, so there are really only Ryan's plan that decimates our government and way of life, the Democrat's plan that is getting little airplay, and the Progressive Democrats plan that has gotten no attention from national media. The deficit reduction committee isn't a budget as such but selectively looks at programs with an eye to one end only - deficit reduction.
Reuters ignores the Progressives Budget entirely in its Fact Box. Ryan's proposal for the Republicans gets all the air play so you probably are familiar with it. The Democrats' proposal isn't getting too much attention specifically, and the Progressives are getting none.
Too many supposed reporters and journalists are commenting that once again we will start with concessions from Obama and move toward the Republican points through "compromise." This is a farcical negotiation. Look at Ryan's proposal and look at the Progressive Democrats' proposal and then end up left of Obama's -- that is what should be happening.
So do yourself a favor, as should our legislature, and use the info from Jeffrey Sachs' overview of the PDA budget (starting at 1:25 seconds into the video) as a starting point in negotiations and not Obama's which is where negotiations should end up, not from which to begin.
Showing posts with label PDA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PDA. Show all posts
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Conservative Calls Labor Members Slobs and Animals
Just heard, on the Lawrence O'Donnell show, The Last Word, on MSNBC, State Senator Grothman of Wisconsin refuse to apologize for calling the protesting constituents who are camped out in the Capitol "slobs." In not doing this he also managed to dig a deeper hole for himself. It seems union workers, public servants and the like are a different "breed" of people from the Walker supporting constituents of his district. Just click on the link above and start watching the video 1:45 min. into the clip.
Does this consdescending, pompous *bleep* really understand that he is calling the public servants of his state animals? He might as well have said, "Oh the common people, I do think they should be kept out of sight when the upper classes are about."
This shows a basic BIG problem in the U.S. that is presenting itself all the way from Wisconsin to Arizona. Somehow ignorant people, truly ignorant people who despise education and knowledge, people that did not finish college and have found themselves in the upper socioeconomic brackets of society, through no efforts of their own, have taken over much of our political system.
These authoritarian elitists really think that they inherently are better than every one else and have the right to impose their beliefs on the rest of us and force us to do the work as they reap the benefit. These folks are no better than anyone else and in my opinion have no class, no honor, and no conscience. Our country was founded to help regular people have control over their own property. We attempted to eliminate the power of the Monarchy with our War of Independence. We created our country so rule would not be consolidated and inherited by a privileged few. Common landowners were citizens with equal voice in governance; there were to be no rulers.
While the common person was watching TV and consuming the opiate of the masses, the same little *bleepers* that would have been the simpering tax collectors of the monarchy switched their loyalties to the new monarchy - the corporation. The U.S. originally gave the corporations no rights. They did this for a very important reason. The East India Tea Company was buddy, buddy with the Monarchy, Lords, and Ladies. If you haven't read about corporate personhood, you should.
I sincerely hope that legislatures start listening to their constituents because we are not that far away from another bloody revolution. I don't want that. You don't want that. If anyone in your family works for the city or state, or receives any assistance from the county or state, or belongs to a private union you are cutting your own throat by supporting corporate interests. Forget Repulicans, forget Democrats, look at who is in favor of progressing the state of the common person. Traditionally Democrats support labor and Republicans support management. This is no longer true. Democrats now support labor and management. Republicans support corporate management and owners. Progressives support labor and local business. Conservatives - well that word has been co-opted to the point where it means nothing. If you are talking about religious conservatives, well that has no place in our governance structure. Fiscal conservatism... well, no one has been fiscally responsible for decades. Let's just get back to government of the people by and for the people.
And if our government refuses to represent the interests of the people, well we have to change the government. I was at a PDA meeting last week and it was amazing, a couple hundred people showed up rather than the group of 20 that were present when PDA tried to start up in Tucson a few years ago. There was an energy there that was calling to be channeled into an aggressively progressive.
At the same time that PDA is gaining steam, the Start Our State, or Baja Arizona, movement is getting attention. Phoenix has been draining the coffers of Tucson returning far less than than an equitable amount to our community, allowing religious conservatives and pseudo-libertarian corporatists to impose anti-American legislation on our state, gut our K-12 and Higher Education systems, and insure a low wage workforce. People are getting fed up.
I for one am very tired of living in states that are absolutely regressive, but I love Tucson. When you are connected to a person who teaches and does research at a University level, you are tied to working in states that may not be your first choice if all other things were equal. I would love to live in a state that somewhat supports my belief in democracy and equality. Baja Arizona might just do it for me.
But if elitists like Walker run Wisconsin, and wackos like Brewer run Arizona, I'm not sure where is safe to go other than metropolitan areas, and I don't want to have to do that. Somehow I feel like my rights are being stepped on.
Does this consdescending, pompous *bleep* really understand that he is calling the public servants of his state animals? He might as well have said, "Oh the common people, I do think they should be kept out of sight when the upper classes are about."
This shows a basic BIG problem in the U.S. that is presenting itself all the way from Wisconsin to Arizona. Somehow ignorant people, truly ignorant people who despise education and knowledge, people that did not finish college and have found themselves in the upper socioeconomic brackets of society, through no efforts of their own, have taken over much of our political system.
These authoritarian elitists really think that they inherently are better than every one else and have the right to impose their beliefs on the rest of us and force us to do the work as they reap the benefit. These folks are no better than anyone else and in my opinion have no class, no honor, and no conscience. Our country was founded to help regular people have control over their own property. We attempted to eliminate the power of the Monarchy with our War of Independence. We created our country so rule would not be consolidated and inherited by a privileged few. Common landowners were citizens with equal voice in governance; there were to be no rulers.
While the common person was watching TV and consuming the opiate of the masses, the same little *bleepers* that would have been the simpering tax collectors of the monarchy switched their loyalties to the new monarchy - the corporation. The U.S. originally gave the corporations no rights. They did this for a very important reason. The East India Tea Company was buddy, buddy with the Monarchy, Lords, and Ladies. If you haven't read about corporate personhood, you should.
I sincerely hope that legislatures start listening to their constituents because we are not that far away from another bloody revolution. I don't want that. You don't want that. If anyone in your family works for the city or state, or receives any assistance from the county or state, or belongs to a private union you are cutting your own throat by supporting corporate interests. Forget Repulicans, forget Democrats, look at who is in favor of progressing the state of the common person. Traditionally Democrats support labor and Republicans support management. This is no longer true. Democrats now support labor and management. Republicans support corporate management and owners. Progressives support labor and local business. Conservatives - well that word has been co-opted to the point where it means nothing. If you are talking about religious conservatives, well that has no place in our governance structure. Fiscal conservatism... well, no one has been fiscally responsible for decades. Let's just get back to government of the people by and for the people.
And if our government refuses to represent the interests of the people, well we have to change the government. I was at a PDA meeting last week and it was amazing, a couple hundred people showed up rather than the group of 20 that were present when PDA tried to start up in Tucson a few years ago. There was an energy there that was calling to be channeled into an aggressively progressive.
At the same time that PDA is gaining steam, the Start Our State, or Baja Arizona, movement is getting attention. Phoenix has been draining the coffers of Tucson returning far less than than an equitable amount to our community, allowing religious conservatives and pseudo-libertarian corporatists to impose anti-American legislation on our state, gut our K-12 and Higher Education systems, and insure a low wage workforce. People are getting fed up.
I for one am very tired of living in states that are absolutely regressive, but I love Tucson. When you are connected to a person who teaches and does research at a University level, you are tied to working in states that may not be your first choice if all other things were equal. I would love to live in a state that somewhat supports my belief in democracy and equality. Baja Arizona might just do it for me.
But if elitists like Walker run Wisconsin, and wackos like Brewer run Arizona, I'm not sure where is safe to go other than metropolitan areas, and I don't want to have to do that. Somehow I feel like my rights are being stepped on.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Day 1 of Being a CODEPINKer at One Nation Working Together
October 1 Logistics
12:30 - 3 a.m.
Worked on orienting myself, getting internet installed and working, figuring out my schedules and getting my materials together for the next few days. Finally crashed around 3 a.m. I'm still very much on west coast time.
Mundane details, but good to know information (especially for women activists of a certain age:
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.Woke up later than I should have -- 6 a.m. AZ time. 9 a.m. here. Very glad I gave myself a day to orient and do a bit of lobbying. I transcribed the letter to my Representative and Senators onto my computer -- wrote it by hand on the plane here. Loaded it onto a flash drive and printed it at the business center in my hotel. Grabbed a good breakfast. Got a metro/city map. Figured out the locations for shuttlebetween hotel to metro. Got a metro card. By the time I emerged from the metro at Capital SW stop I was sweating like mad. We south-westerners forget how much we sweat in the heat because it evaporates instantaneously. Here when I encounter the humidity that is always present in Washington, D.C. my body tries to cool itself, sweats, it doesn't evaporate as it usually does when I'm in Tucson and thus my body thinks it isn't cooling off, so it bumps up the process and cranks out even more sweat. I look like hell and I don't stay sweet smelling very long in this condition either.
I'm glad I've had a day to adjust to everything.
As I said above, I have letters for all the Rep/Senator types from my part of AZ. I did manage to deliver my letter to Representative Giffords today around 3. I wasn't impressed with her staff.
Boy Staffer mumbles some sort of a greeting.
Me: Hi. I've come to drop off a letter.
Boy Staffer: Good.
That was it. I gave it to him. No "Oh, where are you from?" or "Why are you here?" or "Welcome to D.C. " Nada. Zilch. Pretty good mirroring of the way Gabby treats her constituents by her staff.
I know D.C. is old hat to them, but here I am, a constituent who has come across the country to support working together for progressive reasons, and takes the time to write and drop off a letter, and I'm pretty much ignored. I was hot & tired and on my way out I told the guy what I thought about how I was treated and even though I vote for Gabby only as the lesser of two evils, I do not feel she represents any of my interests, hears what I tell her in letters, petitions, and the like, nor cares. Giffords is basically a pro-choice Republican from what I can tell.
Then I went to a room in the Capitol Visitor's Center to a room Rep. Raul Grijalva had reserved for use by the PDA. On Sunday I will go into detail on what John Conyers said when he spoke to maybe 50 or so people from the PDA and associated groups.
Will also report on the great dinner and orientation session I attended at the CODEPINK Convergence Center this evening.
But for now I have to sleep, and tomorrow I'm on the ground all day and at Poets and Busboys in the evening. I will be posting images here, on Flickr, and on Facebook and Twitter until I can write up things later this weekend.
BRING OUR WAR $$$ HOME!!!
12:30 - 3 a.m.
Worked on orienting myself, getting internet installed and working, figuring out my schedules and getting my materials together for the next few days. Finally crashed around 3 a.m. I'm still very much on west coast time.
Mundane details, but good to know information (especially for women activists of a certain age:
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.Woke up later than I should have -- 6 a.m. AZ time. 9 a.m. here. Very glad I gave myself a day to orient and do a bit of lobbying. I transcribed the letter to my Representative and Senators onto my computer -- wrote it by hand on the plane here. Loaded it onto a flash drive and printed it at the business center in my hotel. Grabbed a good breakfast. Got a metro/city map. Figured out the locations for shuttlebetween hotel to metro. Got a metro card. By the time I emerged from the metro at Capital SW stop I was sweating like mad. We south-westerners forget how much we sweat in the heat because it evaporates instantaneously. Here when I encounter the humidity that is always present in Washington, D.C. my body tries to cool itself, sweats, it doesn't evaporate as it usually does when I'm in Tucson and thus my body thinks it isn't cooling off, so it bumps up the process and cranks out even more sweat. I look like hell and I don't stay sweet smelling very long in this condition either.
I'm glad I've had a day to adjust to everything.
As I said above, I have letters for all the Rep/Senator types from my part of AZ. I did manage to deliver my letter to Representative Giffords today around 3. I wasn't impressed with her staff.
Boy Staffer mumbles some sort of a greeting.
Me: Hi. I've come to drop off a letter.
Boy Staffer: Good.
That was it. I gave it to him. No "Oh, where are you from?" or "Why are you here?" or "Welcome to D.C. " Nada. Zilch. Pretty good mirroring of the way Gabby treats her constituents by her staff.
I know D.C. is old hat to them, but here I am, a constituent who has come across the country to support working together for progressive reasons, and takes the time to write and drop off a letter, and I'm pretty much ignored. I was hot & tired and on my way out I told the guy what I thought about how I was treated and even though I vote for Gabby only as the lesser of two evils, I do not feel she represents any of my interests, hears what I tell her in letters, petitions, and the like, nor cares. Giffords is basically a pro-choice Republican from what I can tell.
Then I went to a room in the Capitol Visitor's Center to a room Rep. Raul Grijalva had reserved for use by the PDA. On Sunday I will go into detail on what John Conyers said when he spoke to maybe 50 or so people from the PDA and associated groups.
Will also report on the great dinner and orientation session I attended at the CODEPINK Convergence Center this evening.
But for now I have to sleep, and tomorrow I'm on the ground all day and at Poets and Busboys in the evening. I will be posting images here, on Flickr, and on Facebook and Twitter until I can write up things later this weekend.
BRING OUR WAR $$$ HOME!!!
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