Just in case ya didn't know, this is an open thread where everyone is welcome to congregate and post links and/or other stuff as well as just chatter about whatever's on their mind.
So, I'll start: Well somebody finally out-crazied the king of wackos Glenn Beck...
If the hearing word bipartisan makes you want to commit senseless acts of violence, chances are that you are probably one of those pacifist liberals. Just like so many words in American politics, bipartisan no longer means what we think it means. It would also seem that "progressive action" has come to mean being in the constant state of erasing lines in the sand.
All this time so many Democratic supporters were thinking that Social Security and Medicare represented the backbone of the Party of FDR but in the spirit of bipartisanship our Democratic president recently appointed a Republican as the chairman of the euphemistically named National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. That way the former Republican Senator from Wyoming can "save" the United States from "insolvency" by hacking away at Social Security and Medicare.
Yesterday there was this story by James Ridgeway and he seems to have understood what to expect from the beginning. It really helps to redefine bipartisanship and understand where progress will be going under "bipartisan Democrats."
This post is a discussion - starter on the Tea Party Republicans. It's made up of a few relatively short takes. Feel free to weigh - in and add your thoughts to or take issue with any of the points I make.
Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack.
In Harare, on the way to our meeting with Wellington Chibebe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), even our driver was excited for us.
"He is a good, good man. I've only seen him on TV, but he's fights very hard for the people and to promote democracy!"
Since the early 1990s, ZCTU grew increasingly opposed to the government of Robert Mugabe and was the main force behind the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In fact, MDC's leader and the current Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai held the same position with the ZCTU before Chibebe.
Chibebe is one of the most vocal-and effective-voices in civil society promoting respect for human rights and democracy. Despite being brutally beaten, tortured, and having his life threatened over the last two decades, Chibebe remains more positive than ever about the direction of his country. It was largely due to Zimbabwe's labor movement that in the 2008 presidential election Tsvangirai defeated Mugagbe. Yet despite MDC's victory, Mugabe, refuses to step down and the nation has a "power sharing" agreement.
When we met with Chibebe, he was cautiously optimistic about the power-sharing agreement and the future of democracy in Zimbabwe. "Our role as the labor movement is to fight for democracy and good governance, respect for people's basic rights, and also social and economic rights." He says that while the MDC plays a critical role in promoting democracy, the mission of the union movement will be to hold all political parties accountable to these principles. "We just can't afford to repeat the same mistake by treating any government or political party as angels from heaven," he says. While he described the beginning of the power-sharing agreement as "terrible," Chibebe felt strongly that "things are now getting better, we are able to make some positive changes happen."
Chibebe was born 300 miles south of Harare. His upbringing herding goats and farming built both a sense of responsibility and social consciousness, he says. "Rural kids grow up different from urban ones, you start fighting for your rights at a very early age. If you aren't aggressive, you'll get abused." He also described how in rural life he had no access to books or libraries, so everyone listened to their elders, learning about the importance of struggle and hearing passionate tales of resistance against the ruling government. Not even a teen when his mother passed away, Chibebe became passionately involved in political struggle for social and economic justice that has lasted his whole life.
Being at the helm of the Zimbabwe labor movement at this moment is no easy task. The country faces unemployment rates of more than 90 percent. The media is controlled by the government. Union leaders are routinely harassed and imprisoned. And the Mugabe government instituted draconian laws to thwart unions, such as arresting any meeting of more than four people. Yet the affiliates of the ZCTU, representing more than 30 unions and every sector of the economy, have remained united. "While it is very difficult at times with unemployment so high to convince people to be in unions, we are still able to recruit and grow."
Chibebe works tirelessly to bring attention to Zimbabwe's economic and human rights realities and to pressure the government to reform its ways. As workers struggle to survive inflation and low paying informal employment, Chibebe has expanded the work of the ZCTU to represent all workers in both formal and informal employment. ZCTU fights for economic and social justice not just for his members, but for the fundamental rights of all of Zimbabwe's workers.
In 2002, Chibebe and the ZCTU had the vision of helping informal sector workers-everyone from street vendors to musicians and artisans-form unions. The desire for social and economic change spread like wild fire when the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Associations (ZCIEA) started in 2002. Presently with more than 1.5 million paying members (out of 3.5 million members), the informal workers now have access to all the resources of the ZCTU such as their lobbyists, their research arm, and the strength and power of their affiliate unions.
Chibebe, and everyone we met with at ZCTU, speaks with great pride about the support they've been given by the American labor movement through the Solidarity Center, which maintains an office in the country. "Because of the Solidarity Center and the American worker, we've had incredible moral and material support," Chibebe said. Some of the examples he cites are the role the Solidarity Center plays in supporting their research institute, expanding distribution of their newspaper "the Worker," their ability to fund a lobbyist, create a paralegal program, training activists and leaders, and getting support from international governments and politicians through organizational delegations such as the visit from the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).
Once again the debate over a "soda tax" is going strong here in New York and throughout the entire nation. The pros and cons of this tax are complicated but something needs to be done. Except what is being floated around here and by many governments in a nation of drinkable disasters is really both a natural sweetener tax and a promotion of artificial sweeteners.
The embattled Governor David Paterson proposed it last year as an "Obesity Tax" before public outcry temporally crushed it. The outcry was over this tax being a regressive tax that poor people would be forced to pay with little thought about parents telling their children "No you cannot have 87¢ for a Coke but you can have 75¢ for a Diet Coke." When diet sodas are exempt, since budget conscious shoppers will find drinks with artificial sweeteners and other chemicals to be money saving choices, it translates to government preaching better living through chemicals.
This tax seemed dead until Michael Bloomberg began presenting it as what it really is, an income generator. Now with Bloomberg's endorsement this tax is getting the "full court press" again and Paterson is holding multiple meeting on taxing sugary drinks. Meanwhile there are dueling TV ads here now but little thought about what is being taxed to curtail empty calories through a straw. In this battle of interest groups is anyone actually thinking?
Just now on Countdown: Rep. Dennis Kucinich is a solid no. Compares a bill without a robust public option to "building on sand."
Greg Sargent has a useful roundup of other swing House votes.
On the Senate side, I still do think the votes for a public option through reconciliation are within grasp. We have 37 right now. Akaka, Carper, Dorgan, Harkin, Kohl, Rockefeller, Tester, Baucus, Conrad, Hagan, McCaskill, Webb, Warner, Byrd, and Begich would give us 52. That's home with a little room to spare. Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor, and Bill Nelson would be worth lobbying as well. I doubt any of them would back it unless the train were leaving the station. But Lincoln couldn't afford to be the one vote to kill it, unless she wants small donors to flock to Bill Halter like nothing ever seen before.
The grassroots is not urging elected Dems to do something that doesn't make sense. We're urging them to include a popular element that is good policy, makes the individual mandate politically defensible, and is probably the only thing that can really energize the Democratic base in time for November.
Drew Westen weighs in. The entire post is worth reading. Westen reinforces why a Medicare Choice Buy - In would be a winner.
Great coverage of all things reconciliation at Congress Matters.
Mitt Romney is apparently running for president on an "I Heart Insurance Companies" platform
President Obama at his best.
Some much - needed comic relief: Jonathan Chait mocks Mike Allen's reconciliation FAIL.
Hello there everyone! Good to see you here tonight surfin' the Progressive Blue! Welcome to the Monday Night Twilight!
(photo by LaEscapee)
Hey everyone! Well, it's another new week to get through. Hope the first day of the workweek was good for everyone! So let's start the evening week well!
Just in case ya didn't know, this is an open thread where everyone is welcome to congregate and post links and/or other stuff as well as just chatter about whatever's on their mind.
So, I'll start: Ok, today I have a small beef with the usage of our language...
It often seems there is a deep canyon lying between what we can do and what needs to be done as a community, as a local region, as a state, as a national region, or as a nation.
But the Steel Interstate is a national program that a coalition of determined groups of advocates scattered across the country could get going. It bridges regional interest conflicts, and offers a way to advance some of the interests of so many - Interstate motorists, advocates of freedom from cars, organized labor, the largely disorganized army of the unemployed, advocates of ecological sustainability, advocates of mitigating climate chaos, and Progressive Patriots, to name just a few.
Of course, I want to talk process, but it seems to be network maps that catches people's interest. So how I will go about this is alternating Map and Process.
Care International's work in Zambia has two main goals: increase the production of staple crops and improve farmers' access to agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers. But instead of giving away bags of seed and fertilizers to farmers, Care is "creating input access through a business approach," not a subsidy approach, according to Steve Power, Assistant Country Director for Zambia.
One way they're doing this is by creating a network of agro-dealers who can sell inputs to their neighbors as well as educate them about how to use hybrid seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs. At the same time, "we are mindful" of the benefits of local varieties of seeds, says Harry Ngoma, Agriculture Advisor for the Consortium for Food Security, Agriculture and Nutrition, AIDS, Resiliency and Markets (C-FAARM). Care and C-FAARM are working with farmers to combine high- and low-technology practices.
Care thinks that this "business approach" will help farmers get the right inputs at the right time, unlike subsidy approaches that give farmers fertilizer for free, but often at the wrong time of year, making the nutrients unavailable to crops. And Care's focus on training agro-dealers and giving them start-up grants allows the organization to remain invisible to farmers. Power says that Care wants to be a "catalyst to the market" and help transfer resources, without distorting the basic pricing structure.
Another component of Care's work is improving the production of sorghum and cassava. "Zambia is as addicted to maize as we are to Starbucks coffee," says Power. But by encouraging the growth of other crops, including sorghum, which is indigenous to Africa, Care can help farms diversify local diets as well as build resilience to price fluctuations and drought.
Care is promoting conservation farming in Zambia as well. The organization has been working in six districts since 2007, reaching 24,000 households. In addition to promoting minimum tillage practices and the use of manure and compost, Care is helping to train government extension officers about conservation farming so that eventually they'll be responsible-instead of Care-for training farmers.
According to Power, the key to Care's work is promoting business-like approaches to agriculture alongside more traditional ones, so farmers don't become dependent on the organization for gifts of fertilizer or seed. These sorts of programs, according to Care, will be more effective at feeding people and increasing incomes than traditional food-aid projects that rely on long-term donor support. This is a big challenge in a country-and a region-facing the impacts of both climate change and the global economic crisis.
Stay tuned for more blogs about how farmers are linking to the private sector.
Hello to everyone out there surfin' the Progressive Blue tonight. I'm delighted to bring you our Sunday Sunset on this spring-like Sunday evening!
(Grand Crescent Moon Sunset by Fort Photo.)
I bid you welcome to the last vestige of frivolity until (gasp) you have to go back to work tomorrow. So we will end our weekend properly with The Sunday Sunset. This open thread is meant to try to keep the weekend alive a little longer with our own late night farewell. I'll also post the weekly sunset photo in the body.
The floor for the Sunday Sunset is open to any stories about your weekend, as well as to any ranting, whining, crying, bitching, moaning, kvetching, and venting any of you would like to do. Laughing is of course definitely allowed and even encouraged, even if it's just desperate hysteria that's causing it.
There are only 2 rules in this particular open thread:
1. Be Good To One Another
2. Vote in the Poll
Notes on the poll: It's really single choice, but you can pick more than one... ;>
I apologize for not having much dexterity when it comes to typing again, but such is life. I had surgery on my left arm again on Thursday, so we will just have to go with mostly an open thread today. I mean, C'mon Prog Bluites! Y'all are such interesting people...movers and shakers.....captains of industry....stuff like that....so you should have NO PROBLEM filling up the comments section with tales of WIN and cool stuff, too.
Last night I had a bad dream....., and it went like this: I dreamt the Health Care Reform Bill failed. In the dream, I was lamenting to a friend, a doctor, how a handful of right wing, well-funded, Tea Partiers are determined to tear our Country's progress down, almost in self-destruct mode. (The trigger for the dream must have been something I read in an article by Dave Sirota on the unimaginable nerve of Glenn Beck declaring his hatred for the word, "community" at the infamous Tea Party Convention. Now, how awful is that? A community can be good or bad, but we, of the community, should make it good for all its members. Now, that's how I read the Gospel, according to Matthew.
For a wonderful example of advocacy for the community as good, visit the site of The Social Contract Project:
Neighborhood Social Contracts:Principles "A community," St. Augustine observed, "is a group of people united by the common objects of their love." The principles underlying the Social Contract Project grow out of this basic definition of community.
We can summarize these principles as follows:
1. Building community is the process of defining the values that we share and that we are willing to work together to achieve.
2. The basic values that we share as citizens are the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
3. The framework for community embodied in the Preamble to the Constitution, in turn, asks that "we the people," "insure domestic tranqillity," "establish justice," "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," and "promote the general welfare." These principles shape our expectations of community in America, as surely as "equality," "inalienable rights," and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" define what we expect as individuals.
4. Whereever we live, we all want our communities to be clean, safe, economically viable, and decent places to raise our children. This is what "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" means to us.
5. In accordance with these principles, we expect public officials to perform what the Constitution requires--however we understand these requirements. This is the fundamental social contract between government and the people.
http://www.neighborhoodsonline...
Then waking this morning, I saw an editorial cartoon in the San Jose Mercury News about a citizen immersed in shark infested water, sinking fast, and being devoured by sharks, refusing, terrified, to reach out to a rope with the label, "Socialist Rope" printed on it. Amazing, isn't it? How long a group will continue to tap that old socialist shibboleth, and be so successful as to prevent people from even reaching out in self defense to exmine the true nature of the rope, and, if it's been mislabeled?
Downright demoralizing for this Passionate Progressive Patriot!
So, what's a real populist to do?
Well, fortunately we have a group (maybe several, Campaign for America's Future, around to come to the aid of true, real populists,, their revenue stream being only the constant inspiration of the true Social Contract imbedded in the Preamble to our Constituttion.
"All governments set forth a social contract between public leaders and the people. The American social contract grows out of the Preamble to the Constitution, which demands that "we the people" work in partnership with government to "establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.""
>
This crazy "socialist" talk has a direct line in the regressive politics of Conservative ideology in America. I remember, all too well, Spiro Agnews, fomenting negativism through his calls to the so-called "Silent Majority". Almost like yesterday, I remember when H.R. Haldeman tried to degrade my whole profession of Social Work, saying Social Workers never earned an honest day's wage in their lives. Yes, the socialist shibboleth has been around a long time. It was used to fight Medicare, and now it is being used to fight health care reform, and every manner of reform for the common good.
Let's heed George Lakoff's advice, call a spade a spade, and use the language of our convictions. Let us take charge of the debate. Let's put the Socialist Shibboleth in its place, no place in the American social Contract.
Let's join groups like Campaign for America's Future and broadcast our beliefs, with the full weight of the Constitution behind us. Don't let "them" shred our Social Contract and mis-define it for poisonous consumption.
In Harare, on the way to our meeting with Wellington Chibebe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), even our driver was excited for us.
It often seems there is a deep canyon lying between what we can do and what needs to be done as a community, as a local region, as a state, as a national region, or as a nation.
But instead of giving away bags of seed and fertilizers to farmers, Care is "creating input access through a business approach," not a subsidy approach, according to Steve Power, Assistant Country Director for Zambia.
