"These fantasy elections we've been having -- overblown sports contests with great production values, decided by haircuts and sound bytes and high-tech mudslinging campaigns -- those were sort of fun while they lasted, and were certainly useful in providing jerk-off pundit-dickheads like me with high-paying jobs. But we just can't afford them anymore. We have officially spent and mismanaged our way out of la-la land and back to the ugly place where politics really lives -- a depressingly serious and desperate argument about how to keep large numbers of us from starving and freezing to death. Or losing our homes, or having our cars repossessed. For a long time America has been too embarrassed to talk about class; we all liked to imagine ourselves in the wealthy column, or at least potentially so, flush enough to afford this pissing away of our political power on meaningless game-show debates once every four years. The reality is much different, and this might be the year we're all forced to admit it."
Article by Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com.
The Establishment [Democratic and Republican] wants us to focus all of our energy on elections because elections are the controlled space whereby popular ferment can be contained by rules, regulations, etc. And without direct action, republican democracy is truly disempowering: our only means of influence are to beg the Very Serious And Important Intermediary —the congressman, the governor, the president, etc. —to do something on our behalf. But there are many different methods of direct action —i.e. taking matters into our own hands—that can wield a tremendous amount of power.
David Sirota -- Read the articleHERE
Forbes list charts progress — for the elite
Dr. Roy's Column Saturday 04/05
I haven't been updating the site like I should. I've been reading Kevin Phillips.
Quote:
Today, the economic negligence of Washington and Wall Street, more than two decades in the making, has led to a multi-dimensional crisis in which this country faces an unprecedented convergence of problems: unprecedented debt, tumbling home prices, reckless money supply expansion, growing inflation, insufficient and expensive oil, and an eroding dollar. Sadly, there may no longer be a plausible way out.
Huff Post This Morning
American Theocracy and Wealth and Democracy are two of his most recent books that I'm reading. His newest book, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, is being published in April by Viking.
This should be useful during the fall campaign:
Quote:
The latest to come to light: McCain was a "key figure" in the deal that awarded a multi-billion-dollar air tanker deal to a join venture that includes the European company EADS rather than to Boeing. McCain pushed the Pentagon to change the bidding process in a way that disadvantaged Boeing, Time magazine says. And some of his top advisers have out and out lobbied for the award to EADS/Airbus--one of them while serving as McCain's national finance chairman. [Time magazine, 3/11/08]
From John Sweeney's blog on Huffington Post. Sweeney is president of the AFL-CIO.
Sweeney's Blog
It appears more and more likely that the Democrats Nominee for the Presidential election will be confirmed by the votes of the Superdelegates to the August Convention in Denver.
Here is an interesting project sponsored by five well known internet political organizations to track and put light on the superdelegate process:
Congresspedia: Superdelegate Transparency Project
check out the block on the left side of this page for current totals.
Quote:
From Liberal to Leavenworth, hundreds of Kansas Democrats are joining the CommunityCorps. The CommunityCorps is an integral part of our efforts to contact voters with our Democratic message at the grassroots level. By joining, members are agreeing to contact a list of 25 voters in their neighborhoods at least three times before Election Day. Anyone may sign up at: http://ksdp.org/communitycorps. We are still working to reach our statewide goal of 2,250 individuals by March 1, so please let everyone in your County Party know about this important project.
Mathew Anderson, Field director, in the latest email to county leaders also tells us about the new "state-of-the-art" voter file that will be available to workers during the lead -up to the November elections. A new list will be a terriffic asset as we work the precincts.
Kansas Democratic Party
Go to the KDP web site to read about the programs and to purchase tickets.
Governor Tim Kane of Virginia will be the special guest.
Info and Tickets HERE
I need to apologize to folks who looked on this site for information about the Jeff. Co. Democrats Kansas Day Gala at the Barn B&B Sunday. It was inadequate and inaccurate. I hope it is enough to say that I'll try and do better in the future.
We heard Nancy assure us that the fight for her re-election was going to be very hard and that she needs all the help we can give her. The more salient points of her talk were that the Republicans in the house, through refusals to override the President's vetoes, and in the senate, through filibusters (a record number), have imposed their partisan agenda by impeding Democratic legislation. Their intention, she says, is to use the charge that Democrats did nothing after their attaining a majority in their battles against Democrats in 2008 election campaigns. She emphasized the importance of democrats using their voices in letters to the editor, blogs, etc to tell the truth about what is happening in Washington and to mold public opinion in favor of Democrats.
She closed out her talk by pointing to the obvious, to us, economic downturn and the need for us to "tighten our belts". The anger in her voice was palpable as she explained her vote against the farm bill and the appropriations bill which, she said, she voted against because of continued subsidies included in the bills for the most profitable industries in the country, big oil companies, pharmaceutical industries and the health insurance industry.
Also heard from at the meeting was Lee Jones, who is running in a Democratic primary against Greg Orman. The winner of this primary will run against Pat Roberts in the general election. Tom Holland, currently a State Representative will be running against Roger Pine for Kansas Senate. They both look like very good candidates to me.
Tom and his crew did an excellent job hosting the event and preparing the meal. Great thanks to them.
At The Barn B&B south of Valley Falls, Feb 13.
Call Larry Bigham for tickets. (785)
246 - 3736
