The Occupation Will Be Tweeted

Update: Maybe this is why the media hasn’t been covering the story. The police and the politicians won’t let them. Media Can Avoid NYPD Arrest By Getting Press Pass They Can’t Get.

The MSM is beginning to cover the occupation of the United States by many of its own citizens with greater regularity and veracity since police officers in their zest to clear space are providing television and print outlets with gestapo photos of jack-booted policemen pepper spraying and assaulting individuals whose sole offense is sitting in one space too long. Prior to the use of force to arrest people for closing their own bank accounts, the usurpation of public (and some private) spaces in protest of the unequal siphoning of resources was only being detailed by modern journalists without credentials, the bloggers and tweeters and tumblrs, snapping pictures with iPhones and digital elphs and uploading those to the cloud where they shot around the world in a flash thanks to “social” media.

The ability of individuals to broadcast their experiences from tablets and cell phones is remaking journalism, citizenship, and government, from Tahrir Square to Washington, D.C. And though the corridors of power remain hallowed halls tread by elites with the good fortune to have been handed the keys, this new democratization of world citizenship is ushering in a new era of accountability which will transform who is being represented by legislators, and who is giving the orders to the aforementioned jack-boots.

Whether #OccupyWallStreet maintains its momentum remains to be seen. Whether the movement of individuals which has catalyzed the occupation of Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Barcelona, Madrid, London, San Francisco, Athens, Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, etc. But the power of the people to document and distribute is real and is quickly calling into question the abuses of authority which until the advent of television were incidents isolated by locale. With the advent of television, those images, like the Edmund Pettis Bridge were broadcast, but it was still simply one-way distribution. From Davey D’s live-tweeting of the violence at Occupy Oakland to the video of students being pepper-sprayed at Occupy UCDavis, social media is creating an interactive, quick-response culture which empowers the oppressed, the silenced, the citizens to speak out, to speak truth to power, to shift the very nature of power itself.

As Efrain Nieves’ tweet heard round the world said, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” Yes, he was quoting Dr. King. But the fact that this sentiment has been retweeted across the globe in a matter of hours gives us a glimpse into the changing tide of communication, into the power of social media that is changing the world.

Related articles

• Tracing the Roots of #OccupyWallStreet (greatfinds.icrossing.com)
• #OccupyUCDavis: Police in Riot Gear Use Chemical Agent on Students (crooksandliars.com)
• How the Occupy Wall Street Protesters Can Defeat the Corporate Elite (alternet.org)

Party Before Country

Regardless of party, the reality is that the debt ceiling needs to be raised and it is the responsibility of the Congress, both the House and the Senate, to write and pass a bill both houses can agree upon.  That bill is then sent to the President for his signature, which makes the bill become a law.

The Republican elected officials in the House of Representatives refuse to do their job, instead finger-pointing at the President and telling spurious lies, in the hopes that they will create an atmosphere in which The People blame the President, and make him “a one-term president.”

The plan of the GOP simply refuses to take into account the needs of the American populace. In opposing the President’s stimulus package, they ignored unemployment; in opposing “entitlement programs”, they ignore the elderly and the infirm; in opposing an increase in the debt ceiling, they ignore the full faith and credit of the United States and the economic recession their previous budgets and spending led to.

The more people like Allen West and Joe Walsh bring a number-crunching prioritization to the government of the United States, coupled with an intense partisan loyalty which super-cedes their patriotic, civic and employment responsibilities (since governance is their job), the more we fall into the trap prophesied by President George Washington in his farewell address,

“In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties…”

Senator Mitch McConnell famously said that his number one priority is to make President Barack Obama a “one-term president.”  His number one priority should be, if I may be so bold, helping the 99 other senators and 435 representatives in the House write and pass laws which benefit the country.

The Republican Party, 2011, is simply a self-sustaining organization which happens to participate in politics.  It is no longer a group of people who agree on certain principles about how the government should be run.  It is awash in social and economic theories, many different from each other and all bastardizing the label “conservative.”  And these are the people who have managed to lie their way into office, spouting untruths without responsibility for their words, like Speaker of the House John Boehner did in his response to the President on July 25th.

There has been no “bipartisan support” for the debt-ceiling plan he proposed and passed through the Allen West-infested House, and it is not a serious or good-faith attempt because he knows it will not pass the Senate, let alone be signed by the President.  He has failed to put country before party.  And in telling his lies, he is following Senator McConnell in attempting to place the interests of his party, in demeaning and delegitimizing and defeating the Democrat in the White House, before the fiscal solvency of the nation that he serves, that they all serve.

Loyal opposition is one thing.  It creates the opportunity for the best ideas and values of the participants to be evaluated and included on their merits in a compromise.  Opposition for its own sake, though, is the warning that President Washington spoke of over two-hundred years ago,

 ”However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

The cunning, ambitious, unprincipled men are now in positions of authority in our government, and are attempting “to subvert the power of the people and usurp for themselves the reins of government.”  They must be stopped.

Call Eric Cantor and let them know how you feel – 202-225-2815.

Call Speaker Boehner and tell him to focus on the nation, not his party – 202-225-6205

Related articles

• ‘The Key is McConnell’: White House Looks to GOP Senate Leader for Help (blogs.abcnews.com)
• Obama argues debt case to nation (boston.com)
• Debt ceiling impasse: How we got into this mess (cnn.com)

The Bottom of the Barrel

The GOP is failing in spectacular fashion lately. Three of its stalwart proponents are attempting to advance their personal agendas on the backs of others by lying with straight faces to anyone with a camera and a microphone.  In no particular order, since their thoughts and words come out that way, are the bottom of the political barrel:

Senator John Kyl.  The mis-titled “junior” senator from Arizona brought some of his state’s hateful deception to the floor of the United States Senate when he asserted that “90% of what Planned Parenthood does is perform abortions.” Beyond demonizing another organization whose services are provided primarily to the economically challenged, Senator Kyl lied into the Congressional Record in order to advance a socially conservative agenda during an economic debate.  Not only is this disingenuous, but his lie, which he said “was not intended to be a factual statement,” was easily proved false and left him looking stupid. UPDATE: Senator Kyl has blamed his ridiculous assertion that his statement was #notintendedtobeafactualstatement on his press secretary.

Representative Paul Ryan.  The Republican Congressman from Wisconsin’s 1st District, is next on the list of ridiculous with his “Path to Prosperity”. A draconian boondoggle which simultaneously 1) plays to the ignorance of the Tea Party movement by simultaneously claiming to address the deficit while maintaining tax breaks for the wealthy which contribute to it, 2) cuts services to the poorest and most economically challenged citizens in the United States, and 3) FORCES SENIOR CITIZENS TO USE INSUFFICIENT VOUCHERS TO PAY FOR HEALTHCARE which means that those with the most limited means and greatest need will be forced to pay the highest costs to stay well.

Last and least on the list. Donald Trump. Should keep his day job. Another example where wealth and excess reflect a poverty of spirit. Used to be the funny, quirky business mogul. Now he’s creating an aura of racial mystification bathed in pseudo-economic savvy in order to promote his reality television show by exploiting the most ignorant example of racial profiling aimed at the President of the United States. There are people ignorant of the constitutional requirements for the presidency, though I don’t believe he is one of them.  He is however playing on their fears by claiming that Barack Obama is not eligible to be President in order to gain viewership and make more money on advertising. Capitalism at its worst – do whatever you can to get paid. I’d call him a prostitute, but I don’t want to insult those men and women who ply the world’s oldest profession.

Amazing that these three are involved in the political conversation of the nation when there is so much work to be done.

Related Articles

• Kyl revises Congressional Record to omit ‘well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does’ is abortion (dailykos.com)
• Best New Party Game 51: #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement (videogum.com)
• What a United States Senator Sounds Like (mydd.com)
• Senator Jon Kyl Purges His Lie About Planned Parenthood From Official Records (slog.thestranger.com)
• Donald Trump? (gesvol.wordpress.com)

Yo ho, Yo ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me!

I took my son and his friend to the movies last week. Ticket price – $29.50. It was right after school, so they were a little hungry. My son ordered a hot dog. His friend a small popcorn. They both got small drinks because the larger sizes frightened them. Concessions – $18.00. My eleven-year-old looked at the receipt, frowned, and uttered, “that’s ridiculous.” And he was right. Especially since it was one of those times I had paid to take a nap (his eleven year old movie choices didn’t interest his father all that much).
It made me want to become a pirate. You know, somebody who buys the latest movie for five bucks on dvd from a guy outside Chuck E. Cheese’s, or uses Limewire to ‘acquire’ a digital copy opening weekend. I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do, but I understand.
I feel like Chris Rock or Sam Kinison, talking about understanding something that I don’t agree with or endorse. In a personal economy that has fewer “extra” dollars to spend on entertainment, this $47.50 for an afternoon was too high a price to pay. And the argument about studios losing money doesn’t mean much to me. I’m not asking studios and movie conglomerates to spend millions making movies. Was Avatar visually amazing and worth the ticket? Yes. Maybe. The same story was told before with Kevin Costner. It was called Dances with Wolves.
Yes, we could not go to the movies. We can wait months for the dvd release on Redbox or Netflix. Yes, we can rent them on iTunes and watch them on the iPad. We already do all of these things. We’ve even managed to get on the list where they call us to see screenings of movies for free before their release in theaters. But I’m more than a little frustrated that taking my kids to the movies costs so much. The ability to see these online, or on dvd from the local eatery, for literally one-tenth the cost begins to be a smart economic decision. Piracy is beginning to look like a legitimate alternative to seeing movies on the big screen.
And that’s one adult and two kids…when it’s the four of us, plus dinner, we have to apply for credit before we go out for the evening. If you don’t see me at the theater next weekend, just assume I’m growing out my beard and looking for an eye patch. Yo ho!

 

OBAMA 2012

The President of the United States is only running against one person next year – himself.  And while his leadership has been questioned, by Democrats, Republicans, people in between and people on the extremes, it is ultimately his own record which will determine whether or not he gets reelected in 2012.

Of late, there have been a good number of progressives disappointed in him for not being as progressive as they are: Lt. Dan Choi was irritated with the lack of movement on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; Representative Kucinich is raising the question of impeachment over the United States’ bombardment of Libya; in these very pages, I myself have been disappointed at some of his administration’s actions over the past two years.

And of course, the birthers, the Teahadists, political opponents and haters-at-large who have been calling for his brown head, or his “most liberal” head, or his “fascist communist” head, have been calling for his removal, impeachment, assassination, etc. since before his election.  Unfortunately for them, their most likely candidate is a serial philanderer whose most recent political experience is resigning from Congress to yell from the sidelines instead of doing the work of the nation.

President Barack Obama hasn’t done all the things I wanted him to do when he was elected.  But he has done a lot of them. And he is guiding the country on the best path back from the brink President Bush abandoned us on.  That’s why the campaign begins now.

OBAMA 2012!

Related Articles

• Dennis Kucinich: Obama’s Libya Attack An Impeachable Offense
• A Phone Call from the President
• Trump again questions Obama’s birthplace
• Newt Gingrich Contradicts Self on Libya, Tries to Explain
• Top Dem rejects calls for Obama impeachment over Libya

My Government Works

I opened my email today, and this is what I read:

Dear all,

You will see an increase in your paycheck  starting with the 1/15/2011 check you received last week.

This is due to the tax cut that was part of the 2010 Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act. The new Social Security rate will mean a 2% cut in payroll taxes for employees. This tax cut reduces the percentage the employee contributes to Social Security Tax from 6.2% to 4.2%. The decrease in Social Security tax is effective for two years.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you, Mr. President. As a middle class,working American.  Thank you.

Blessed With Work

Image via Wikipedia

“Grandpa, you need some help?”

“No, no, not at all, darlin’. I’m blessed with work.”

-Return to Me

Unemployment in the United States is at record levels right now.  Nationally, it’s 9.8%, which is a little misleading but still tremendously high.  According to the Center for American Progress, when you break that out by ethnic group, the numbers are much bleaker for black Americans (16% unemployment) and Latino Americanos (13.2% unemployment) than for white Americans (8.9% unemployment).  That being said, many of us are blessed with work, and thankfully strapping on our shoes and grabbing our lunches on our way out the door, happy to be providing for our families and happy to be able to provide for our families.

Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the United States Senate, however, is upset that he has a job to go to. He’s so upset that his job (in which he has a voice over unemployment benefits for people who can’t find a job after they lost theirs) might require him to work over the holidays that he’s hurling religious slurs in an attempt to avoid doing his job.  He has a job and he’s whining about “disrespecting the institution” by working?  Millions of people LOOKING FOR JOBS and SURVIVING ON UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS that he conspired to let expire, and he doesn’t want to go to work?

Senator Kyl’s attitude is poor, and his behavior and language are repugnant and reprehensible.  The current session of the United States Congress is scheduled to end on January 4th, with new Senators being sworn in on January 5th, 2011.  Between now and then, there are several pieces of legislation which need to be enacted, or at least voted upon:  the Dream Act, the START Treaty, repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” segregation of homosexual Americans, funding the United States’ government for the next year are just a few of them.

People usually finish the work they have before them, when they have a job, before they go on vacation.  If the work isn’t finished, then the Senate shouldn’t go on recess.  If Senator Kyl wants to go on vacation, then he should convince his fellow Senators not to waste the time they have reading 2,000 pages out loud instead of voting on legislation that they were sent to Washington, D.C. to vote on.  He doesn’t have to change their mind or convince them to do anything but THEIR JOBS.

The unemployed are struggling and searching for sustenance.  These old white men are blessed with work.  It’s time they remember that and WORK.

What We’ve Done

I’m tired of listening to John Boehner and all the “we used to be in office” critics of the President talk about how he hasn’t accomplished anything yet.  I’m tired of listening to Chuck Todd and David Gregory spinning narratives about whether President Obama’s presidency hinges on the pending health care reform legislation being voted on today.  A quick glance at the White House website has a comprehensive list of the legislation signed by the President in the last fourteen months (excerpted below with links).  It has even more Executive Orders signed by the President, and Presidential Memoranda issued.  From the tax breaks for donations to Haiti to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this President is, to quote DNC Chairman Tim Kaine on Meet The Press this morning, “doing the heavy lifting.”

I titled this post What We’ve Done because we helped put this man in office.  We elected a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.  And the changes are getting made.  To listen to the mainstream media, which needs a narrative to spin because they don’t think people will pay attention to the actual machinations of government, each day is a referendum.  They have to set up a straw man of inaction, to fuel the fire.  They need to put a microphone in front of John Boehner, Mike Pence, Michael Steele and other merchants of misinformation because “we won’t watch” if there isn’t blood in the water.

When Health Care reform legislation passes today and is passed in the Senate using reconciliation (which is a vote on the legislation which means more Senators have to vote for it than against it – shocking concept) and the President signs it into law, we’ll add this to the list of changes and keep stepping.  UPDATE: H.R.3590 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (health care reform!) passed the House of Representatives March 21, 2010 by a margin of 219-212. Since the Senate passed the same legislation Christmas Eve, 2009, President Obama will sign into law this week.

As our attention shifts from what has passed, from what is past, to what is to come, let’s approach it with a firm grasp of the recent history of our president, and of our country.  There’s a reason his approval ratings just jumped almost ten points. He’s doing a good job.  And we’re the ones who put him there.

Look what we’ve done.

Featured Legislation (from whitehouse.gov)

Signed on March 23, 2010
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Signed on March 18, 2010
Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act
Signed on January 27, 2010

S. 2949 -Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act

Signed on January 22, 2010
2009 Tax Breaks for Haiti Donations

Signed on October 30, 2009
Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009

Signed on October 28, 2009
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010

Signed on October 22, 2009
Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act

Signed on August 06, 2009
Cash For Clunkers Extension

Signed on June 22, 2009
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Signed on May 22, 2009
Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009

Signed on May 22, 2009
Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act

Signed on May 20, 2009
Helping Families Save Their Homes Act

Signed on May 20, 2009
Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act

Signed on April 21, 2009
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

Signed on March 30, 2009
Omnibus Public Lands Management Act

Signed on March 20, 2009
Small Business Act Temporary Extension

Signed on February 17, 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Signed on February 11, 2009
DTV Delay Act

Signed on February 04, 2009
Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act

Signed on January 29, 2009
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Getting the JOB done

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is literally one year old today.  Despite the crowing of @johnboehner and House Republicans, or Senator John Cornyn who speaks out of both sides of his mouth, “it is not hypocritical for members of his party to tout projects funded by the federal stimulus project,“ the stimulation of the economy has and is continuing to work.

As I drive through Los Angeles, I see lots of the signs, “This project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”  Those are jobs, people getting up and going to work funded by the stimulus.  Listening to the President this morning, and the governor of Wisconsin afterwards, there are millions of people who are working today that wouldn’t be if the ARRA hadn’t been passed.

It’s one thing to interpret the numbers.  It’s quite another to lie about the effectiveness of legislation because you don’t like it.  The President has a job, and he’s doing it.  The Recovery Act shows that Congress can do its job, or at least it has in the recent past.  And there are millions of other people who’s jobs depend on them both continuing in that pattern.

Cornyn: It’s not hypocritical to tout stimulus

Stimulus Bill Worked

Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success

I’m a Simple Guy

That being said, I’m struggling to understand a couple of political realities…

1. Why do the Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, need sixty votes to pass anything in the Senate?
2. How does a woman who gives speeches insulting the President’s use of a teleprompter do softball interviews with crib notes on her hand?
3. Why are politicians allowed to say things that are factually untrue without any consequence, either from the electorate or “the fourth estate” which is charged with brining us news?
4. How come being the adults in the room means Democrats have to bargain from the middle while Republicans can just whine and say NO?
5. Who the f&$ is Tom Tancredo, and why doesn’t he have to take a literacy test? or a citizenship test? or a history test?
6. When is Don’t Ask Don’t Tell going to be repealed?
7. Who’s the next minority group of citizens that will be legislatively discriminated against?
8. How long after reading Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools will the Commander in Chief apply some of the basic ideas to our wars and struggles in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Having moved to Twitter over the last several months, my political thoughts have become quick and fluid, and easily expressed in under 140 characters each.  But I’ve been watching Sen. Olympia Snowe, Rep. John Boehner, ex-Gov. Sarah Palin and others running around lying this week, while President Obama and Greg Mortenson and Richard Clarke are running around trying to accomplish, trying to help, trying to get things done.

That “hopey changey thing” that I voted for is working out for me just fine.  Maybe it’s just because I’m such a simple guy.