Republican Website Update

It looks like the Republicans have struck gold in their effort to get their base to send ideas for a future Republican agenda to their new website, America Speaking Out. The ideas are pouring in.

"End Child Labor Laws, we coddle children too much. They need to spend their youth in the factories."

"How about if Congress actually do thier job and VET or Usurper in Chief, Obama is NOT a Natural Born Citizen in any way. That fake so called birth certificate is useless."

"Build a castle-style wall along the border, there is plenty of stone laying around about there."

"Legalize Marijuana, cause, like, alcohol is legal. Man. Also."

"I say, repeal all the amendments to the Constitution."

"Don't let the illegals run out of Arizona and hide. . . . I think that we should do something to identify them in case they try to come back over. Like maybe tattoo a big scarlet 'I' on their chests -- for 'illegal'!!!"

"Let kids vote!"

"Let's make a 'Social Security Lotto,' "

"What dope came up with the idea of criminalizing a parent's right to administer corporal punishment?"


"...build the city of the future somewhere in a non-inhabit part of the United States, preferably the desert."

"I oppose the Hispanicization of America, these are not patriotic people."

"English is are official langauge. Anybody who ain't speak it the RIGHT way should kicked out."

Leader John Boehner (Ohio) proclaimed. "We want to continue to offer better solutions to address the problems that America is facing, and we see this as a giant step forward, directly engaging the American people in the development of those solutions."

Sleep easy, America, we are in good hands!

Republicans Uncover More False Science In Schools

House Republicans have launched a website called America Speaking Out. They are inviting public input with the idea to build grassroots support and get some ideas about crafting a new agenda for the coming elections in November.

One of the first posts was a complaint from a parent about the continuing problem of false science being taught in our schools: a problem near and dear to the Republican mind.

"A 'teacher' told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish!" the parent complained. "And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story."

Rumor has it House Minority Leader John Boehner(Ohio) and House Whip Eric Cantor(Va) are planning to ask this parent to accept an appointment to a grassroots committee to oversee the efforts of the new website.

This is just the kind of "red-meat" stuff the Republicans thrive on. Can't wait to see Boehner and Cantor exposing this latest liberal corruption at the next Republican "save the nation" press conference.

Rand Paul

Is Rand Paul, a: prejudiced, b: a chauvinist, c: a racist?


First we should define these three words in context with the discussion.

Chauvinism - unreasoning devotion to ones race, sex, etc. with contempt for other races, sex, etc.

Prejudices - suspicion, intolerance, or irrational hatred of other races, sex, creeds, regions, occupations, etc.

Racism - any programs or practices of discrimination and segregation that uphold the political or economic domination of one race over another or others.

(definitions from Webster’s New world College Dictionary)

Now lets consider the question(s) at hand considering recent comments of Rand Paul.

a. Is Rand Paul a chauvinist?
He says he is not. Absent any defining “macaque” moment, the question, in and of itself, will stand answered by his denial: for now.

b. Is Rand Paul prejudiced?
He says he is not. Ditto the “macaque” statement above.

c. Is Rand Paul a racist?
Yes. He is. His statements concerning his opposition to Federal laws that protect African-Americans against "programs or practices that uphold political or economic domination of one race over another or others" brands him.

Racist Jim Crow laws and culture - "program or practice" - existed throughout the country before the passage of the Civil Rights Law. The consequences their existence amounted to the uninterrupted "economic or political" domination of African-Americans going back to the earliest days of our nation.

Racist "programs or practices", first and foremost, are sources of power and profit - "political or economic" - and those who support them have been the most ardent and consistent opponents of Federal laws that put those sources out of reach. Here is where we may revisit questions a and b above and challenge Rand Paul’s denial of chauvinism and prejudice. How else can his opposition to laws that provide relief and protection from “political or economic” super-exploitation for millions of African-American citizens be viewed?

One of the great setbacks of the discourse over equality and justice that has taken place since the passage of the Civil Rights Law is the success those who benefit from racist "programs or practices" have had in redefining racism as a prejudice and/or chauvinism. A subjective state of mind rather than one of design represented by "program or practice."

These days we hear talk of black racism, even among some who should know better, as if the African-American community as a whole is or has ever been in any position to institute any "program or practice" that would lead to any level of "political or economic domination" of the white population. It is akin to saying a round square is a geometric figure. It is a lie created to hide the truth, the facts and the consequences of racism. Consequences that do harm to all except those seekers of ever more power and profit. Those who, like Rand Paul, lurk under the mantle of respectability while planning the return of “programs or practices of discrimination and segregation that uphold the political or economic domination of one race over another or others.”

Rand Paul is a racist. We as a nation trying to move forward risk much if we shy from the challenge his ilk presents. And although the danger of what he represents is great, he can be dealt with easily. Simply toss him onto history’s trash heap with other aberrant individuals, as we pass it in November, and don’t look back!

Just so.

A sort of CliffsNotes guide to understanding the minds of Democrats and Republicans:

Democrats and Obama said to Wall Street elites - "Unless your business model depends on bilking people, there's little to fear from these new rules." April 22, 2010

Republicans and Bush said to Wall Street elites - "This is an impressive crowd — the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base." October 19, 2000

Main Street, Wall Street and the Big Apple

In the city of New York there is a street named Wall and a district called Wall Street. The district is home to the influential financial interests of the American financial industry. There are banks, investment houses, stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and other related entities.

Confusing the picture further, a discussion about Wall Street can mean all, some or any one of those institutions.

Having cleared that up (?), lets consider the NYSE and the President’s financial-reform bill.

Today the prevailing attitude toward the NYSE is either one of love, for reasons obvious, or acceptance as a necessary evil.

There was a time when the NYSE and the lesser markets helped businesses raise capital to create new businesses and expand existing ones through the selling of stock and the marketplace of these stocks provided a "relatively" safe place for people to invest their earnings and savings.

The movers and shakers of the Exchange went to work every day dressed in their Brooks Brothers three piece suits and Johnson & Murphy wing tip shoes plying their skills, more or less efficiently, within the guidelines defined by government regulations that protected all the players – those in the business and those outside it. The hum it produced was audible – most of the time.

Now, today, after some 30 years of almost continuous deregulation of the entire financial industry, the NYSE has been taken over by a cabal of greed driven degenerates. Figuratively, if not literally, gold chains are worn over the Brooks Brothers suits and diamond pinky rings can be seen on hands that sign contracts. One can almost hear the ka-chings of cash registers and the oodly-oodly sound of slot machines as one passes by the Exchange's grand edifice.

Who of us does not know the story of the consequence of taking a bite of the forbidden fruit? That once done cannot be undone. Could it be that the NYSE took a bite of uncontrolled greed and corruption and cannot be made to turn back? That it will evermore resist, snarling and scratching, regulation that tries cure it of its drug-like addictions?

Perhaps Main Street should be asking if it is, now and evermore, worth the effort.

Perhaps the question Main Street should be asking is not what can be done to reform that piece of Wall Street known as the New York Stock Exchange but whether Main Street needs that piece of Wall Street known as the New York Stock Exchange.

Perhaps the call from Main Street should not be, "Fix it!", but, “Tear down that Wall Street casino and build a steel mill!”

Reds put jobs fight at top of to-do list

From the People's World

The fight for jobs, and for the unemployed, is central to any economic recovery and to any forward motion for a people's agenda. With this in mind, last week the national board of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) took steps to beef up its work on the economic crisis.

"Labor, civil rights, women, youth and all the progressive core forces in our country are now moving to place the fight for jobs and the unemployed front and center on their agenda," said Sam Webb, chair of the CPUSA, "We have to pay particular attention to the working-class communities hardest hit, especially African American, Latino, and immigrant communities. And unemployment for youth is staggering."
He proposed that the national board establish a jobs committee of party activists to help coordinate and develop the work at all levels with special attention to party clubs and districts. Scott Marshall, chair of the CPUSA's labor commission was asked to chair the new committee.

The board hailed the establishment the Jobs for America Now national coalition and the AFL-CIO's five point program for economic recovery and jobs.

"This is exactly the broad national coalition framework needed for this fight," said Marshall. The board pointed out that there are literally thousands of efforts and projects at the grassroots level led by local unions and union unemployed committees, community groups, retiree organizations, churches and central labor councils around the country. These efforts include not only advocacy and legislative efforts, but also food pantries, homeless shelters and job counseling and training efforts.

In accepting the assignment for the national board, Marshall said that while working in coalitions to strengthen and expand the national fight for jobs, the new committee will work with members and clubs to help build similar broad local coalitions and actions at the grassroots. "Millions are angry and suffering. If we look around in our communities and work places we will find many opportunities to get involved and help build grassroots action and muscle behind the demands of the national coalitions," Marshall said. "We need emergency action now."

Political courage to create jobs is lacking, AFL-CIO Trumka charges

by: John Wojcik
Peoples World

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, in a major address today at the National Press Club in Washington, said the jobs crisis "cries out for political courage but that courage is not much in evidence. Too many people in Washington seem to think that now that we have bailed out the banks, everything will be okay."

The president of the 12-million-member labor federation called for re-making and building a new economy and reversing the fundamental changes in the nation's economic structure and rules "that for the past decade-plus have celebrated private greed over public service."

Working members of the press at the gathering applauded repeatedly, despite having been asked by the moderator to withhold that applause in the interest of "objectivity" and "saving time."

Trumka told the nation's leading journalists about his recent jobs-focused barnstorming tour of California, where he was arrested at a sit-in demanding fair treatment for hotel workers.

"Everywhere I went, people asked me, why do so many of the people we elect seem to care only about Wall Street? Why is helping banks a matter of urgency, but unemployment is something we just have to live with? And why is it so hard to pass a health care bill that guarantees Americans healthy lives instead of guaranteeing insurance companies healthy profits?"

He said there were major policy areas where things went wrong during the Bush years including institution of rules that boosted corporate empowerment, trade policies that encouraged shipping U.S. jobs overseas, financial deregulation that promoted speculation and the systematic dismantling of the nation's pension and health care systems.

"These policies culminated in the worst economic decade in living memory," he declared. "We suffered a net loss of jobs, the housing market collapsed, real wages fell and more children fell into poverty. This is not a portrait of a cyclical recession, but of a nation with profound, unaddressed structural economic problems on a long-term, downward slide."

The new economy needed, he said, must include creation of millions of new jobs, genuine health care reform, re-regulation of the banks, and the restoration of the freedom of workers to form unions. The working reporters applauded the point on unions and Trumka predicted that the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier to unionize, will pass in 2010.

On job creation, Trumka said the AFL-CIO's five-point program would be of immediate use in creating 4 million jobs. In addition, more long-term initiatives are needed to build a lasting and job-filled recovery, he said. "Yet too many lawmakers and policymakers are urging a 'go slow' approach and displaying an unwillingness to spend the money needed to fix the foundation of the economy - job creation."

Trumka stated that "these voices are harming millions of unemployed Americans and their families - but they are also jeopardizing our economic recovery. It is responsible to have a plan for paying for job creation over time," he said, "But it is bad economics and suicidal politics not to aggressively address the jobs crisis at a time of double-digit unemployment."

On health care, Trumka blasted the Senate bill's tax on workers' health care benefits that he said would hit 31 million workers.

"The tax on benefits in the Senate bill pits working Americans who need health care for their families against working Americans struggling to keep health care for their families," he declared.

Trumka warned lawmakers who "may try to hide behind insufficient and small gestures to create jobs, fix the economy and protect the middle class while continuing to give Wall Street a free ride.

"The reality," he said, "is that working people will not stand for tokenism. We will not vote for politicians who think they can push a few crumbs our way and then continue the failed economic policies of the last 30 years."