Some thoughts about the "populist economics" being pushed by the Democrats as a way to evade any mention of wars and real health care reform, etc...

Democrats are making a futile last ditch effort to defeat Republicans using a sham "economic populism" which goes like this... Obama made a mistake putting healthcare reform before job creation. So, all of a sudden in time for Election Day Democrats have conveniently discovered the "jobs issue."

To listen to most Democrats one would not even know that two wars are raging with people dying and resources being wasted.

Democrats have concocted a form of "economic populism" tailored to their needs for the 2010 Election which finds almost half the Democrats saying they don't want to see Obama run for a second term... this "economic populist" talk has been concocted to evade any discussion about war and peace and social and economic justice and the fact that the economic picture for the future is not as rosy as what is being portrayed.

In fact, health care and child care should have become free universal public programs and together between these two programs over 15 million new jobs could have been created.

Of course, the Democrats could have financed health care and childcare by ending these dirty wars and taxing the hell out of the rich.

Creating public universal social programs meeting the needs of the people is the way to create jobs... instead, Democrats, like Republicans, continue to pander to the false idea that small business creates the most jobs.

We will need a massive coalition of liberals, progressives and the left to articulate real job creation programs based on solving the problems of the people as an alternative to what the Democrats and Republicans have to offer.

 

Both Democrats and Republicans are pushing the false idea that by helping small business expand this is the way to create the most new jobs... both Democrats and Republicans tout supporting "private enterprise" and the "free market" as the ...way to create new jobs which is just as false as relying on small business to create jobs because the fact is, private enterprise and the free market destroyed all these jobs to begin with and the corporations continue to use the economic collapse to try to get fewer workers to produce more through speed-up and longer hours as they continue to lay off more workers as they push fewer workers to produce more.

Only massive government job creation programs will put people to work, and we might as well have these unemployed workers providing working people with healthcare and childcare... thus solving our unemployment problems and healthcare and childcare problems at the same time.

 

Small businesses are going bust left and right as the economy continues to collapse so more jobs are being lost than created in the sphere of small business. Plus, the majority of jobs created by small business are poverty wage jobs seldom providing working people with decent benefits and usually very poor working conditions... the idea behind having a job is to have a real living income and a quality life not to have a job that keeps you in conditions of poverty. Millions of working people in this country have to work two or three poverty wage jobs in the small business sector and they still can't feed their families and pay the rent.

I hardly call workers providing healthcare and childcare being "on the public dole." Public employees who work providing us with universal social programs are entitled to real living wages and a decent quality of life... we should be looking at providing all workers with a standard of living comparable to most public employees not trying to drag public employees down; the idea is to provide better lives and livelihoods for ALL working people.

We need a FULL EMPLOYMENT ECONOMY which would also solve any problems being encountered with Social Security and would enable the Social Security program to be expanded with more and better benefits.

Frances Perkins, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, placed all of this in proper perspective... when red-baited by the Tea Baggers of her day, she responded by stating: I would rather see the words in the Communist Manifesto become part of government programs helping people instead of remaining in obscurity on the pages of a pamphlet." Perkins, together with Harry Hopkins and Henry Wallace--- kindred progressive spirits--- took up the struggles of the people from the powerful liberal-progressive-left coalition and successfully brought forward the "New Deal" which included Social Security, the minimum wage and the right of workers to organize unions.

Liberals, progressives and the left need to formulate an alternative to Wall Streets warmongering agenda abroad and austerity at home and we need to wage struggles in every local community across the Nation in the streets and at the ballot box.

I believe I have correctly framed the way we should be articulating this agenda to where public policy becomes part of solving real problems instead of mere posturing around framing issues not intended to solve problems but intended solely to get votes.

 

There is no doubt that politicians have to a large extent perverted the public sector by trying to turn it into one more form of corruption where they seek to provide their friends with easy and often unnecessary jobs as a way to shore up a very corrupt political system... we see good examples of this kind of corruption from one end of the country to the other. But, I think public education, the Social Security Administration, Veterans Administration and the Indian Health Service are good examples of public programs where jobs are created in the public sphere providing services required by people and society. There are many other such examples, too--- from garbage collection to water and sewage, etc.

Of course, we want to advance progressive, not regressive, tax policies: tax the rich. 

 

The age of retirement should be lowered so as to provide jobs for the unemployed and a better quality of life for working people. This can be accomplished very easily by the redistribution of wealth. 

 

Democrats are playing their old games with our lives. In this election, the Democrats actually want us to believe there are no wars raging claiming many innocent lives and wasting our tax dollars and resources when the fact is these wars ar...e destroying the economy as they kill jobs just like they kill people.

In fact, it is not a matter of viewing issues like these wars, unemployment and healthcare and childcare as separate and distinct issues because it will take the tremendous resources now being consumed in carrying out these wars to fund universal public programs like healthcare and childcare which will provide the American people--- especially working people--- with services needed for quality lives which at the same time create millions of new jobs.

I would never support just any Democrats. I too have called many people to support ONE Democrat--- Mark Dayton for Governor of Minnesota who has made "tax the rich" the centerpiece of his campaign as he calls for enforcement of affirmative action.

If I lived in Michigan I would be calling for support for Virg Bernero the Democrat for Governor because he has had the courage to call for the creation of a state bank like the State Bank of North Dakota.

Both Dayton and Bernero understand the relationship between a crumbling capitalist economy and these dirty wars. Both Dayton and Bernero understand the need to struggle against racism and discrimination, and both Dayton and Bernero understand the need to support--- not attack--- public employees who are the front-line defenders of our universally needed public programs.

I would never support nor waste my vote on any Democrat who tries to use jobs versus healthcare while pretending these dirty wars don't exist as they vote to continue funding the deadly, racist and genocidal Israeli killing machine.

There are definitely--- in my opinion--- a few (not many) good Democrats worth supporting but we need to give Democrats our support very selectively as we move to find a way to create a new political movement backed by a new political party giving voice to liberals, progressives and leftists seeking real change... the kind of change that puts the needs of people for peace, jobs and social & economic justice before Wall Streets drive for greater profits enhanced by a voraciousness and rapacious greed achieved through wars abroad and austerity measures at home on top of the "normal" exploitation of working people.

The simple fact is that most Democrats are just as big warmongers and Wall Street apologists as your run-of-the-mill thoroughly reactionary Republicans... I challenge anyone to prove me wrong by providing a list of U.S. Senate and House candidates and those Democrats running for state and local offices and where they stand on the issues.

Even Mark Dayton and Virg Bernero are very weak when it comes to articulating support for massive public programs like healthcare and childcare as the way to create jobs instead of relying on the "private sector and free market" to create jobs when we know that unemployment is caused by this "private sector" and the way it operates in this "free market economy."

We need to push pro-people, pro-peace, pro-worker solutions based on the expansion and development of universal programs to problems inside of the Democratic Party while simultaneously trying to free ourselves from this two-party trap set for us by Wall Street while building a new political party reflecting the liberal, progressive and left views comprising the overwhelming majority of the working class wanting peace and social and economic justice.

The solutions to our problems won't be found in struggles in the streets alone but when we creatively find a way to take our struggles from the streets into the voting booth and then backing up our candidates again out in the streets... I don't see the solutions as either we struggle in the streets or we take our struggles to the voting booth... we need to find ways where one method of struggle is constantly complementing the other; thus providing our movements for real change with greater strength.

 

We need to constantly point out that a full employment economy is the solution to any problems associated with Social Security, too...when everyone is paying in, everyone gets more out.

 

Physician Panel Prescribes The Fees Paid by Medicare:

You might want to get a copy of todays Wall Street Journal (Oct. 27, 2010) to carry around and show people the front page article:

Physician Panel Prescribes The Fees Paid by Medicare:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575540440173772102.html?mod=ITP_pageone_0

People need to see this article!

Alan

A few questions for voters...

Are these wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan any less horrible since they are being waged by Democrats instead of Republicans?

Is the impact of unemployment any better for an unemployed worker under a Democratic Administration then under a Republican Administration?

Is it any better to be without health care with Obama and the Democrats in charge then under the Republicans?

Send Democrats a message they will understand:

No peace; no votes.

No real health care reform; no votes.

No national public child care system; no votes.

No jobs; no votes.

Only vote for candidates who will create jobs putting people to work solving the problems of people and our society financed with money saved from ending these dirty wars and taxing the rich.

Vote selectively based upon those politicians you can trust to reorder the priorities in this country away from war and military spending while focusing on putting the needs of people before Wall Street profits.

It is all about accountability... not voting out of fear.

Something to think about before you vote...

The upcoming elections can't be a referendum on Obama's two years in office because no Democrats dare to run in support of what Obama has done... occupied Iraq and expanded the wars in Afghanistan, his reactionary health legislation and the Wall Street bailouts not to mention his failure to protect working people losing their homes in foreclosures and their jobs as Obama tries to destroy public education and begins to attack Social Security.

The one and only point that Democrats are running on at a national level is that we should all fear the Republicans.

Might I suggest to those Democratic Party hacks now attacking me all over the Internet, on blogs and where ever I go, that all of you get out and talk to working people as to how Obama's Wall Street war economy is hurting people and killing the economy and destroying jobs just like Obama's wars are killing people.

I find it very interesting that the very Democrats who are telling you to vote for them in spite of their support for wars abroad and austerity at home because you should be so afraid of the Republicans, are themselves saying they intend to be "conciliatory" towards the Republicans!

But, we all know these very same Democrats went right along with Bush and the Republicans instead of fighting these evil monsters, don't we?

In fact, the record is very clear, most of these Democrats, with very few exceptions, are just as evil as all of the Republicans, and most Democrats acquiesced to the Republicans during the Republican years... from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to George Bush and we can expect no better from these Democrats; if Republicans gain control in the House and Senate... the same thing in state legislatures and right on down through the townships, counties, cities and school boards.

In the face of Republican evil we can, at best, expect Democrats to acquiesce and at worst be conciliatory when they aren't in complete agreement with these evil Republicans we are being told we must be in such fear of that we need to vote for a bunch of worthless Democrats beholden to Wall Street's thoroughly warmongering and reactionary austerity agenda.

In fact, working people should fear both Democrats and Republicans.

Our only defense against both of these two parties of Wall Street is if we build a powerful all people's united front uniting the working class around a broad-based agenda bringing together liberals, progressives and the left around a common program advancing real solutions to our problems.

We need peace, not wars.

We need to create good jobs paying real living wages by putting people to work solving the problems of the people through developing massive universal social programs like a national public health care system and a national public child care system paid for with funds saved by ending these dirty wars and slashing the military budget combined with taxing the hell out of the rich--- a massive transfer of wealth is the only way to solve our problems, and affirmative action must be enforced in all job creation programs.

In my opinion it is the epitome of hypocrisy to be lectured by Barack Obama and these Democratic Party hacks about the evils we will face from Republicans when:

1. These Democrats are no better than Republicans.

and...

2. The very same Democrats telling us we need to vote for them are already stating they intend to work with these Republicans instead of fighting them. This is the epitome of hypocrisy.

All this talk from both the Democrats and Republicans about how the "free market" needs to be used to create jobs is the biggest crock of shit of all...

It has been the "free market" and private enterprise that created this economic mess to begin with.

And all this talk of assisting "small business" as the way to create jobs is an equally ridiculous notion because the only jobs created by small business are poverty wage jobs and the reason to have a job is to get out, and stay out of, poverty.

Tell the Democrats and all politicians:

No peace; no votes.

No real health care reform; no votes.

No child care; no votes.

No jobs; no votes.

Remember, the only way to create the massive amounts of jobs required to end unemployment is to put people to work solving the problems of the people... a public health care system providing people free health care through a network of public community-based health care centers would create; some ten-million new jobs; similarly, a national public child care system would create millions of more new jobs--- the time has come to place human needs before corporate greed and profits.

Another crock of shit we are being told is that opposition to Obama's and the Democrat's agenda is the same as supporting Republicans when these same Democrats are carrying out these wars that destroy the economy and kill jobs just like they kill people.

It makes me sick that these worthless professional Democratic Party hacks try to bully, badger and intimidate us into accepting these Wall Street Democrats by saying anyone who opposes Obama's thoroughly reactionary agenda is helping the Republicans when the only real issue is who is helping Wall Street and who is standing up for the rights and needs of working people.

A most important question...

Are these wars killing the economy the same way they are killing jobs and people?

Something to think about and discuss around the kitchen table as we move closer to Election Day.

Alan

We need to push Barack Obama aside to make way for a real peace candidate in 2012...

I think Reaganomics definitely pushed this country into darkness... however, it was the defeat of George McGovern that set this country on the steep slippery slope to perdition.

Liberals, progressives and the left should now begin looking for a real honest-to-goodness progressive like George McGovern to run in 2012... Obama is a loser and if he doesn't resign he should be either "primaried out" or face a real progressive running independent of the Democrats and Republicans; its time, long over-due, to finally set this country on a progressive course that will benefit, not only our own country, but the entire world.

It was the same warmongering Wall Street backed Democrats now backing Barack Obama who betrayed George McGovern and the peace majority of this country by with-holding their support from McGovern who now tell us we need to vote for them out of fear of the Republicans when it was these very sell-out Democrats who gave us Richard Nixon... and the rest is history.

Liberals, progressives and the left should drive Barack Obama from office the same way we drove Lyndon Johnson from office for expanding the war in Vietnam.

There is no way liberals, progressives and the left should tolerate being intimidated into voting for candidates who are for these dirty wars and who  keep supporting the Israeli killing machine.

I will be traveling across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan discussing with working people seeking real change how we might come together and be a catalyst for a progressive agenda challenging Wall Street wars abroad and austerity at home... it's time to tighten the belt of people's unity around the coupon clippers making profits from poverty, racism and war. 

We need a real "party of no;" no to the military-financial-industrial complex.

On Election Day, November 2, 2010---

Liberals, progressives and the left need to take a stand:

No peace; no votes.


No jobs; no votes.


No real healthcare reform; no votes.

No childcare; no votes.

No enforcement of affirmative action; no votes.

Wall Street got what it wanted in return for its money...

We are entitled to peace and social & economic justice in return for our votes.

How is Obama's and the Democrats' war economy working for you?

Wars are killing our jobs just like they are killing people.

As I travel, I look forward to meeting with you and sharing your concerns and ideas around the kitchen table.

Yours in the struggle,

Alan

While most of humanity places fresh water as a premium natural resource to be protected and used very wisely, Minnesota Democrats are engaged in the wanton destruction of the Big Bog in Northern Minnesota.

The Green Party remains silent in the face of this destruction and its candidate for governor omits any mention of what is taking place while Democratic Party stooges like Doris Marquit manipulates the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom here in Minnesota to evade discussion of what is taking place in the Big Bog while pretending to educate people on the threats to our water.

The League of Women Voters, always fronting for big-business interests and the DFL "Business Caucus," has refused to place any questions about peat mining in the Big Bog for candidates.

Here in Minnesota, the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) which is manipulated and controlled by big-business interests is engaged in destroying the largest freshwater aquifer in the Lower Forty-Eight by permitting peat mining to take place in the Big Bog.

Berger Peat, a multinational corporation out of Canada comprised of Canadian, U.S. and French "investors" who have made huge campaign contributions to United States Congressman James Oberstar and bribed the Minnesota Commissioner of Natural Resources and gave former Attorney General Mike Hatch expensive gifts along with making huge campaign contributions to Roger Moe, is now going to be requesting a permit to expand the peat mining from the original permit which allowed peat to be taken from a one-square mile area to over 14 square miles.

The reason for the expanded operation is that this peat will be used to clean up oil spills and once the peat soaks up the oil it will be used to fuel bio mass operations to generate electricity.

Roger Jourdain, the long-time former Chair of the Red Lake Nation described the Big Bog's freshwater aquifer as "the life-blood of my people and our Red Lake Nation." The present Red Lake Nation Tribal Council, whose primary interests are profiting from casinos and profiting from the drug trade, has refused to take action to save the Big Bog. 

There has not been one peep of protest against this destruction of one of the world's last remaining pristine freshwater aquifers from "environmental organizations" like the Audubon Society or the Sierra Club.

After issuing the first permit which enabled Berger Peat to get its foot into the door and begin draining the bog so the peat can be mined here in Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources spent millions of dollars for a one-mile aluminum raised "Bog Walk" for tourist to understand the importance of this huge bog to the ecosystems! 

Ironically, this Big Bog Boardwalk was raised at tremendous cost to tax-payers, some three feet off the ground, because "human footsteps would irreparably damage sensitive ecosystem of The Big Bog."

No wonder the Minnesota Supreme Court made its racist and undemocratic decision to deny the Warriors for Justice ballot status... saving the Big Bog and its very important ecosystems is one of their goals and objectives.

So far DFL candidate for governor Mark Dayton has refused to address the issue of saving and protecting the Big Bog.

Not one single scientist can be found to support peat mining in the Big Bog--- even the scientists employed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers came out in complete opposition to peat mining in the Big Bog. The heads of both agencies said they had their "arms twisted" by United States Congressman James Oberstar who threatened to use his powerful influence in Congress to cut funding to their programs if they did not issue permits. Oberstar is one of the most corrupt members of the United States Congress who has become fabulously wealthy taking bribes from the mining industries and road engineers and contractors--- so far, tax-payers have spent over twenty-million dollars building a road out into this pristine peat bog for Berger Peat and its investors to truck away the profits. 

Other Democratic Party politicians who have reaped huge campaign contributions for supporting the destruction of the Big Bog include Rod Skoe, Brita Sailer, Mary Olson and John Persell. Dave Olin, the former prosecutor of Pennington County who publicly admits that he knew about the drug trade taking place for years in Red Lake Gaming Enterprises' three Seven Clans Casinos but did nothing to stop the drug trade, has received huge help in his campaign for re-election from the peat mining associations; this crooked and corrupt politician first took pay-offs from the drug dealers to allow their dirty, sleazy business to continue unhindered by law enforcement as he hypocritically prosecuted teenagers for using drugs these mobsters sold them, and now he is enabling the largest freshwater aquifer in the Lower Forty-Eight to be destroyed--- again, of course, for bribes. Democrat Dave Olin is the same politician who stood up in anger and lashed out against affirmative action--- now this racist slime-ball is receiving political and financial support, along with its endorsement, from the National Rifle Association. 

United States Congressman James Oberstar boasted that this peat mining would create jobs in this economically depressed area where Marvin Windows and Doors, Polaris, Arctic Cat and casinos employ people at poverty wages; when asked by the news media how many jobs this operation was going to create for Minnesotans, Oberstar who is known for his great skills as an orator learned in over 40 years practicing deceit, hemmed and hawed and stuttered. His staff later said about thirty jobs would be created. When asked how much these jobs would pay they refused to comment. Months later it was announced that the jobs would be non-union per the agreement reached in then Attorney General Mike Hatch's office and the jobs would pay "up to $8.00 an hour. Berger Peat, operating out of Quebec, has said it has made arrangements through a Catholic church group to "help out some poor people from Ecuador to do most of the work on a seasonal basis."

Now, read this article and learn how stupid the big-business dominated, manipulated and controlled Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and its willing accomplices are.

Alan L. Maki

29 September 2010 Last updated at 13:01 ET

Link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11435522

Water map shows billions at risk of 'water insecurity'

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

 

The study maps water availability and quality down to the regional level

About 80% of the world's population lives in areas where the fresh water supply is not secure, according to a new global analysis.

Researchers compiled a composite index of "water threats" that includes issues such as scarcity and pollution.
The most severe threat category encompasses 3.4 billion people.

Writing in the journal Nature, they say that in western countries, conserving water for people through reservoirs and dams works for people, but not nature.

They urge developing countries not to follow the same path.

"What we're able to outline is a planet-wide pattern of threat”

Instead, they say governments should invest in water management strategies that combine infrastructure with "natural" options such as safeguarding watersheds, wetlands and flood plains.

The analysis is a global snapshot, and the research team suggests more people are likely to encounter more severe stress on their water supply in the coming decades, as the climate changes and the human population continues to grow.

They have taken data on a variety of different threats, used models of threats where data is scarce, and used expert assessment to combine the various individual threats into a composite index.

The result is a map that plots the composite threat to human water security and to biodiversity in squares 50km by 50km (30 miles by 30 miles) across the world.

Changing pictures

  "What we've done is to take a very dispassionate look at the facts on the ground - what is going on with respect to humanity's water security and what the infrastructure that's been thrown at this problem does to the natural world," said study leader Charles Vorosmarty from the City College of New York.

"What we're able to outline is a planet-wide pattern of threat, despite the trillions of dollars worth of engineering palliatives that have totally reconfigured the threat landscape."

Those "trillions of dollars" are represented by the dams, canals, aqueducts, and pipelines that have been used throughout the developed world to safeguard drinking water supplies.

Their impact on the global picture is striking.

Natural

Looking at the "raw threats" to people's water security - the "natural" picture - much of western Europe and North America appears to be under high stress.

Managed

However, when the impact of the infrastructure that distributes and conserves water is added in - the "managed" picture - most of the serious threat disappears from these regions.

Africa, however, moves in the opposite direction.

"The problem is, we know that a large proportion of the world's population cannot afford these investments," said Peter McIntyre from the University of Wisconsin, another of the researchers involved.

"In fact we show them benefiting less than a billion people, so we're already excluding a large majority of the world's population," he told BBC News.

"But even in rich parts of the world, it's not a sensible way to proceed. We could continue to build more dams and exploit deeper and deeper aquifers; but even if you can afford it, it's not a cost-effective way of doing things."

According to this analysis, and others, the way water has been managed in the west has left a significant legacy of issues for nature.

Whereas Western Europe and the US emerge from this analysis with good scores on water stress facing their citizens, wildlife there that depends on water is much less secure, it concludes.

Concrete realities

  One concept advocated by development organisations nowadays is integrated water management, where the needs of all users are taken into account and where natural features are integrated with human engineering.
One widely-cited example concerns the watersheds that supply New York, in the Catskill Mountains and elsewhere around the city.

"We would argue people should be even more worried if you start to account for climate change and population growth"

Peter McIntyre University of Wisconsin

 

Water from these areas historically needed no filtering.

That threatened to change in the 1990s, due to agricultural pollution and other issues.
The city invested in a programme of land protection and conservation; this has maintained quality, and is calculated to have been cheaper than the alternative of building treatment works.

Mark Smith, head of the water programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) who was not involved in the current study, said this sort of approach was beginning to take hold in the developing world, though "the concrete and steel model remains the default".

"One example is the Barotse Floodplain in Zambia, where there was a proposal for draining the wetland and developing an irrigation scheme to replace the wetlands," he related.

"Some analysis was then done that showed the economic benefits of the irrigation scheme would have been less than the benefits currently delivered by the wetland in terms of fisheries, agriculture around the flood plain, water supply, water quality and so on.

"So it's not a question of saying 'No we don't need any concrete infrastructure' - what we need are portfolios of built infrastructure and natural environment that can address the needs of development, and the ecosystem needs of people and biodiversity."

Dollars short

  This analysis is likely to come in for some scrutiny, not least because it does contain an element of subjectivity in terms of how the various threats to water security are weighted and combined.

 

Developing countries are urged to think carefully about "concrete and steel" solutions 

Nevertheless, Mark Smith hailed it as a "potentially powerful synthesis" of existing knowledge; while Gary Jones, chief executive of the eWater Co-operative Research Centre in Canberra, commented: "It's a very important and timely global analysis of the joint threats of declining water security for humans and biodiversity loss for rivers.

"This study, for the first time, brings all our knowledge together under one global model of water security and aquatic biodiversity loss."

For the team itself, it is a first attempt - a "placeholder", or baseline - and they anticipate improvements as more accurate data emerges, not least from regions such as Africa that are traditionally data-scarce.
Already, they say, it provides a powerful indicator that governments and international institutions need to take water issues more seriously.

For developed countries and the Bric group - Brazil, Russia, India and China - alone, "$800bn per year will be required by 2015 to cover investments in water infrastructure, a target likely to go unmet," they conclude.
For poorer countries, the outlook is considerably more bleak, they say.

"In reality this is a snapshot of the world about five or 10 years ago, because that's the data that's coming on line now," said Dr McIntyre.

"It's not about the future, but we would argue people should be even more worried if you start to account for climate change and population growth.

"Climate change is going to affect the amount of water that comes in as precipitation; and if you overlay that on an already stressed population, we're rolling the dice."

Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

More on This Story

Related stories

• Water - another global 'crisis'? 02 FEBRUARY 2009, SCI/TECH
• Mapping future water stress 08 DECEMBER 2009, SCI/TECH
• Water policies suffer sinking feeling 18 AUGUST 2009, SCI/TECH
• Water everywhere, and not a drop to grow 20 AUGUST 2008, SCI/TECH

Rasmussen Poll: Dem Mark Dayton Ahead By Two Points In MN-GOV

October 8, 2010, 9:48AM

Minnesota Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton

 

The new Rasmussen poll of the Minnesota gubernatorial race has Democrat Mark Dayton taking a narrow lead against Republican Tom Emmer.

The numbers: Dayton 40%, Emmer 38%, and 15% for Independence Party nominee Tom Horner. The survey of likely voters has a ±4% margin of error.

The TPM Poll Average has Dayton ahead with 38.9%, Emmer at 34.8%, and Horner with 15.2%.
In the previous Rasmussen poll from two weeks ago, Emmer had 42%, Dayton 41%, and Horner 9%.

However, this was in part because Rasmussen at the time used its standard model of asking undecided voters and supporters of third-party candidates a follow-up question, to try to push them into a major-party column. This time, they have stopped doing that -- because in Minnesota, unlike the normal course of things in other states, support for a third-party candidate doesn't necessarily collapse in the voting booth.

As the pollster's analysis explains: "In the Minnesota governor's race, Rasmussen Reports has made a decision not to use our traditional leaners model. Normally, that model shows support falling off for a third-party candidate. However, in Minnesota, third-party candidates often defy that trend, and a look at the initial preference data suggests that may be happening this year."

For more of an apples-to-apples comparison, the poll from two weeks ago before the follow-up question had Emmer leading with 36%, Dayton had 34%, and Horner 18%.

Racist and undemocratic Minnesota Supreme Court ruling denies Warriors for Justice ballot status while exposing the undemocratic nature and trap of the two-party system

Warriors for Justice, a new political party in Minnesota calling for an end to racist poverty and unemployment--- victim of Democratic and Republican party fears that the people are fed up and will be looking for real change...

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled, ridiculously in a racist and undemocratic manner, that the double-standard between requirements for registering to vote and signing a petition to place a new political party on the ballot is appropriate.


Read the article from the Bemidji Pioneer newspaper below.

This Minnesota Supreme Court ruling is based on the fear that people are going to find their own way to express their anger with Democrats and Republicans who continue to ignore their problems.

Not one single Native American Indian is sitting among the more than 200 Minnesota State Legislators and anyone who has followed the struggles for justice undertaken by Nicole Beaulieu and Greg Paquin understand why this is.

The irony to all of this is that a racist, rich white-man named John McCarthy doles out political campaign contributions to racist white politicians on behalf of the Indian Gaming Industry for the purpose of ignoring the shameful and disgraceful poverty plaguing the Indian Nations in order to maintain a pool of cheap labor for casino managements while the mining and power generating industries are robbing the people blind as their living environment is ruined as the rape of the land takes place.

From the article in the Bemidji Pioneer, below:

Both Paquin and Beaulieu pledge to run write-in campaigns for the two posts.

“It gets rather frustrating when ignorance becomes blatant and obnoxious, we need real representation, someone with compassion, and solidarity for their fellowman, not these status quo wannabe politicians that have made reputations of working in the interests of capitalism,” says Beaulieu’s campaign manager, Curtis Buckanaga. “People’s discontentment with these two parties is becoming more common, although she was denied ballot status.”

Buckanaga blasted both Republicans and Democrats for not paying heed to Indian Country needs.

“Both of these parties are constantly undermining and taking advantage of the situation of my people by over-exaggerating on their supposed competency of resolving matters in the interests of all citizens, which they are trying to be appointed to office by gaining the favor of the majority of the consensus to represent our communities at large, except the Indians,” he said.. “Our basic human needs are constantly ignored, neglected, undermined, belittled and cast aside to make way for the overindulgent excessive necessities of our non-native brethren.”

Nicole Beaulieu, Candidate for Minnesota House District 4A

  
Greg Paquin, Candidate for Minnesota Senate District 4

Published October 08 2010

Link:

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100022572/

Minnesota Supreme Court denies candidate Greg Paquin ballot access

The Minnesota Supreme Court, in an opinion filed Thursday, said Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer Kay Mack properly denied Senate 4 candidate Greg Paquin’s nominating petition for the Nov. 2 ballot.


By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer


The Minnesota Supreme Court, in an opinion filed Thursday, said Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer Kay Mack properly denied Senate 4 candidate Greg Paquin’s nominating petition for the Nov. 2 ballot.

“We … hold that in denying Paquin's nominating petition for lack of sufficient signatures, the County Auditor did not violate Minnesota law and did not violate Paquin’s constitutional rights,” the court ruled in an unsigned opinion.

The Supreme Court denied Paquin’s appeal to be on the Nov. 2 ballot in an Aug. 24 order, but the opinion describing why wasn’t filed until Thursday.

Greg Paquin and Nicole Beaulieu filed petitions as members of the Warriors for Justice Party, with Paquin seeking the Senate 4 seat held by Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, and Beaulieu for the House 4A seat held by Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji. Both needed 500 valid signatures to gain the ballot.

Both had earlier been denied endorsement by the DFL Party and filed as a new party, Warriors for Justice.
Mack denied both petitions, claiming neither contained the needed 500 signatures when names with only post office box numbers were eliminated.

Paquin claimed that someone in the Secretary of State’s Office had advised him that it was OK to use just P.O. box numbers, and Paquin later claimed that state civil regulatory law doesn’t apply on the reservation, where P.O. box numbers are commonly used as residence addresses.

Paquin also claimed that Mack allowed voter registration with only P.O. box numbers and that he was discriminated against by her not allowing P.O. boxes on nominating petitions.

The Supreme Court noted that state law requires that nominating petitions must contain the residence address of the signers so that they can be verified that they live in the district for which the candidate seeks office.

“Upon receipt of a nominating petition by the appropriate election official, the petition is to be inspected ‘to verify that there are a sufficient number of signatures of individuals whose residence address as shown on the petition is in the district where the candidate is to be nominated,’” the court said, citing state law.

Of 557 signatures, 44 were found defective for various reasons and were not disputed by Paquin. Of the 513 remaining signatures, 166 listed a post office box number as “residence address.”

“Paquin argues that respondent Mack should have determined from other sources the residence address of these signers,” the court said in the 13 page opinion. “For example, Paquin suggests, respondent could have contacted the post office to determine the residence address of the holder of the indicated post office box, or could have reviewed voting records from previous elections to confirm that the signature on the petition belonged to someone living in the district.”

But the court notes that federal law prohibits post office workers from divulging information about post office box holders and state law doesn’t provide for the county auditor to investigate further than what is written on the petition.

State law “requires the inspection of a nominating petition ‘to verify that there are a sufficient number of signatures of individuals whose residence address as shown on the petition is in the district where the candidate is to be nominated,’” the opinion states “Nothing in [state law] requires or even authorizes a county auditor (or the Secretary of State’s office, if that is where the petition is filed) to consult other documents to confirm that the signer is a resident of the district.”

The court also ruled that the post office box number alone is insufficient because it doesn’t prove that the signer physically lives in the Senate 4 district.

“Paquin has the burden to prove that leaving his name off the ballot is an error that must be corrected,” the court said. “Paquin cannot meet this burden unless he shows that the petition signers whose signatures were rejected for lack of a residence address provided information on the petition sufficient to establish that the signer lived within the legislative district.”

Public Law 280 establishes that state governments cannot apply state civil laws to American Indians living on the reservation, but the Supreme Court ruled that the state does have jurisdiction with election laws as legislative districts surpass reservation boundaries.

“Public Law 280 does not bar assertion by the state of jurisdiction over activities of Indians ‘going beyond reservation boundaries,’” it said. “Running for state legislative office and signing a nominating petition for state legislative office are activities ‘going beyond reservation boundaries.’ In seeking to become a candidate for state legislative office, and in signing the nominating petition, petitioner and his supporters are subject to state election laws.”

In dismissing charges of discrimination, the court said that state laws differ in required information for registering to vote and in nominating petitions.

“We understand Paquin’s reply to argue that Mack’s strict enforcement of the residence address requirement with respect to his nominating petition violated his right to equal protection under the law,” said the court.

“The language of the voter registration statutes and the statute governing nominating petitions differs. The statute governing nominating petitions requires signers to provide ‘the signer’s residence address including street and number, if any, and mailing address if different from residence address.’ No statute governing voter registration uses this language to describe the information that a prospective voter must provide in order to register to vote.”

Further, “even if the language of the voter registration and nominating petition statutes were the same, it would not be enough for petitioner Paquin to prove that respondent Mack has differed in her enforcement of the residence address requirement over time; he must also prove that such differences were the result of intentional discrimination. Paquin has not made such a showing.”

Both Paquin and Beaulieu pledge to run write-in campaigns for the two posts.

“It gets rather frustrating when ignorance becomes blatant and obnoxious, we need real representation, someone with compassion, and solidarity for their fellowman, not these status quo wannabe politicians that have made reputations of working in the interests of capitalism,” says Beaulieu’s campaign manager, Curtis Buckanaga. “People’s discontentment with these two parties is becoming more common, although she was denied ballot status.”

Buckanaga blasted both Republicans and Democrats for not paying heed to Indian Country needs.
“Both of these parties are constantly undermining and taking advantage of the situation of my people by over-exaggerating on their supposed competency of resolving matters in the interests of all citizens, which they are trying to be appointed to office by gaining the favor of the majority of the consensus to represent our communities at large, except the Indians,” he said.. “Our basic human needs are constantly ignored, neglected, undermined, belittled and cast aside to make way for the overindulgent excessive necessities of our non-native brethren.”

Presentation to Minnesota's Legislative Commission on poverty: The Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force

Ms. Amy Brenengen,

Please include these comments in the minutes of your "Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force" meeting.

Thank you.

Alan


I am often asked  when I speak to groups across Minnesota: 

What would you do to end poverty?

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Real living wage jobs!

The point of having a job is so you don't have to be poor; anyone without a job is pretty much guaranteed of being poor. 

Every job an employer requires to be done, the worker doing that job should be paid a real living wage and this should be required, by law: every employee must receive a real living wage--- no exclusions.

We need to tax the rich, and end these wars so we have money to solve the problems of people and society which will create jobs. This is a most basic and fundamental concept that politicians don't seem to grasp:

Solving the problems of people and society is what creates real jobs paying real living wages.

A national public health care system would create around ten million new jobs and a national public child care system would create millions of jobs more--- putting people to work solving our problems creates jobs and ends poverty.




Government has a responsibility to create jobs; private industry has failed. That small business creates jobs is just plain bunk; there is no substance to this myth. Small business creates poverty wage jobs. No one goes to work to stay poor.

Also, we need a minimum wage that is a real living wage based on all cost of living factors where adjustments are made quarterly to keep up with cost of living increases which continue to rise as big-business strives to make greater profits in the midst of this very serious economic crisis which will have no end for working people.

The minimum wage should be a real living wage based upon, and legislatively tied to, the scientific calculations as tabulated by the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

These wars are making us poor as individuals and as a Nation. Peace is pretty much a requirement for creating jobs and ending poverty.

Universal social programs aimed at solving each of the points of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights is required in order to end poverty... mere words on pieces of paper cannot be eaten by hungry children.

There is no reason why in the wealthiest country in the world every school child shouldn't be receiving a free breakfast and free lunch in our public schools; especially in a state like Minnesota where farmers profit by keeping valuable crop lands out of production and the grain companies and dairies have tremendous "waste." Put people to work growing food to feed school children and make waste of food by corporations a crime.

Poverty can not be fought or stemmed as long as working people are losing jobs to plant closings. Whether mines, mills or factories, the state should take over under public ownership any closing operations like the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.

Anyone with the least little bit of common sense understands that when working people are not working wealth is not being created. Tremendous wealth is going to be required to solve the problems associated with poverty, and ending poverty.

We need to recognize that these wars that are costing us so much financially are at the same time killing jobs the same way they kill people... these wars make us poor.

This "Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force" has a responsibility to place this question before all Minnesotans:

How is the war economy working for you?

Let me remind the members of this "Task Force" that many Minnesotans have, literally, been driven into poverty by this private, for-profit health care system which is also responsible for many people losing their homes because they are not able to pay health care costs.

Finally, let me remind the members of this "Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force" that you have intentionally placed over 200,000 Minnesotans, some 40,000 families, in poverty by approving the "Compacts" creating the Indian Gaming Industry in a way that has, in violation of all international labor standards and norms and in complete violation of what the entire world recognizes to be human rights, FORCED over 40,000 casino workers here in Minnesota to work in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at POVERTY WAGES where the minimum wage is not enforced by either the Minnesota Department of Labor or the United States Department of Labor and where these casino workers are denied ALL other protections under state and federal labor laws. If the government of Minnesota hasn't created a recipe for poverty while enabling the owners of the slot machines and table games to amass tremendous wealth than what would you call this? In fact, people like John McCarthy of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association who has bribed many of you on this "Task Force" to turn a blind eye to these injustices has amassed fabulous wealth as a direct result of how the Indian Gaming Industry has led to a deepening of poverty on Indian Reservations. I further note, that in violation of all labor laws and human rights standards, right under your noses, the huge Mystic Lake Casino operation forces each and everyone of its more than 5,000 employees to sign statements as a condition of their employment that they understand that they will be immediately terminated from employment should they engage in union organizing activities. To these ends, of denying casino workers the right to organize collectively and to engage in collective bargaining--- we all know that a good union contract is better than any government anti-poverty program or what the philanthropists fund through foundations--- tens of millions of dollars are being spent at this time by the casino managements in Minnesota to hire union-busting outfits like USIS/Altegrity in order to keep working people poor. I would further note that poverty is being imposed on the Indian Nations in the most racist manner in order to maintain a pool of cheap labor for these casino operations.

Women, people of color and young workers suffer the brunt of the poverty created by the Indian Gaming Industry in Minnesota while growing numbers of senior citizens are now forced to take jobs in these casinos because the economic collapse has robbed them of their retirement savings and impoverished them.

Might I remind you that the health problems casino workers incur from second-hand smoke are among the most costly to treat--- heart and lung problems and cancers; and, people with such illnesses usual end up in deeper poverty than what their poverty wage jobs working under these conditions force upon them. 
Which brings me to my conclusion:

Not one member of this "Ladder out of Poverty Task Force" nor any member of the Minnesota State Legislature ever come forward insisting affirmative action be enforced in Minnesota. Quite literally, it is criminal that state departments like the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and the Department of Transportation have refused to enforce affirmative action as intended by federal Executive Order #11246 even though most large state projects like the Bemidji Regional Event Center receive substantial federal funds, too.

There is a certain sad and sick irony that the Minnesota State Legislature establishes a "Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force" while government works behind the scenes under the cover of darkness and "under the color of law" to create poverty because those providing you with lucrative campaign contributions get wealthy because they keep so many people poor.

Keep in mind when discussing poverty that behind every single statistic is a living, breathing human being living in poverty. 

Playwright Bertolt Brecht said is best:


"The rich create the poor but cannot stand to look at them." 


I would also note that the poorest amongst us, Native American Indians, don't have one single seat in the Minnesota State Legislature. Deprivation of democracy is, also, apparently, the cost of being poor in Minnesota... just like casino workers who have no rights at work have no rights in the communities where they live... something you might not understand--- or not want to understand--- but might want to think about.


Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council 


Quoting Amy Brenengen :

Meeting dates and times have been posted for the Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force:  See below and posted here:  http://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/ladder/meetings.html

 ###

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Asset Development Work Group
Thursday, October 21, 2010
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Room 112, State Capitol
Agenda: To be announced

Financial Literacy Work Group
Friday, October 22, 2010
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Basement Hearing Room, State Office Building
Agenda: To be announced

Community Supports Work Group
Meeting Date: To be announced (This meeting will occur the day following the special session)
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Room: To be announced
Agenda: To be announced

Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force (Full Task Force Meeting)
Co-Chairs: Rep. Morrie Lanning and Sen. Michael Jungbauer
Thursday, November 18, 2010
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Basement Hearing Room, State Office Building
Agenda: To be announced

Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force (Full Task Force Meeting)
Co-Chairs: Rep. Morrie Lanning and Sen. Michael Jungbauer
Monday, June 13, 2011
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Room: To be annouced
Agenda: To be announced

Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force (Full Task Force Meeting)
Co-Chairs: Rep. Morrie Lanning and Sen. Michael Jungbauer
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Room: To be announced
Agenda: To be announced

Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force (Full Task Force Meeting)
Co-Chairs: Rep. Morrie Lanning and Sen. Michael Jungbauer
Monday, December 5, 2011
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Room: To be announced
Agenda: To be announced

###

Amy Brenengen
Director, Office on the Economic Status of Women
LCC Staff Liaison, Ladder Out of Poverty Task Force
651-296-0711

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell Phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my Blog:
http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

One Nation rally: Is the message being sent to the wrong person?

I don't get it... why is this rally being pawned off by the primary organizers themselves as a response to Glenn Beck, which has prompted the media to hone in on this?

Why isn't this rally being touted by the organizers as a caution to Barack Obama and the Democrats to do what they promised or they aren't getting the votes of liberals, progressives and the left?

Aren't the organizers of this rally the same ones who said, "Vote for
Obama and the Democrats and we will hold their feet to the fire?"

Now, here we are, two years later and these party hacks like Leah Daughtry say they are sending a message to Glenn Beck!

Glenn Beck isn't the president of the United States--- the message needs to go to Barack Obama and the Democrats who apparently didn't listen very well to Harry Belafonte's speech.

I loathe Republicans... but---

I loathe the Republicans but they don't scare me; neither will calls pandering to fear scare or intimidate me into voting for worthless Democrats who are no better than Republicans.

I keep getting asked: Who are you voting for?

Here in Minnesota I will be voting for Democrat Mark Dayton for Governor and I will be voting early. I only wish I could vote often like they do in Chicago :)

I will vote for Mark Dayton but for no other candidates in this Election.


I will vote for Mark Dayton because he has stated... he will not attack public employees and use them as scapegoats for Minnesota's financial problems created by those representing the well-heeled and wealthy few of the Summit Hill Club who created the mess we are in.

Mark Dayton has brought forward into the political arena a real solution to this financial and economic mess we are in: Tax the rich. This makes perfectly good sense to tax those who made huge profits while creating this economic mess. "Tax the rich" is the primary way for us to begin the redistribution of wealth in our state as we defend and protect out social programs so many people require to survive.

I will vote for Mark Dayton for Governor of Minnesota because he has stood up and called for the creation of a state-owned and managed casino industry to compete with the thoroughly crooked and corrupt Indian Gaming Industry where over 40,000 Minnesotans are now forced to work in these loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws as the non-Indian owners of the slot machines run off with the wealth leaving the Native American people to languish in shameful poverty without one single representative in the Minnesota State House or Senate even though the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association spends tens of millions of dollars bribing politicians to maintain the injustices of this status quo.

More than anything I respect Mark Dayton's stand for equality for all peoples and the stand he has taken in defense of the strict enforcement of affirmatve action which will break the back of institutionalized racism in Minnesota once and for all.

Mark Dayton won a narrow primary victory over a run-of-the-mill big-business supported Democrat who was no different than any Republican, and he is in a tough race against two very pathetic politicians pandering to bigotry and fear using lies and deceit rather than any meaningful approach that includes real solutions to our many problems.

I would encourage every voter in Minnesota to take the time to listen to this brief speech Mark Dayton made before the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party's State Central Committee:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlipIaVskPc
 
I will not be voting for any other candidates--- Democrats or Republicans; I would never vote Republican unless Abe Lincoln were to rise from the grave. I will not vote for any of the other Democrats who will be on my ballot because they are no better than their Republican counterparts when it comes to solving the problems working people are experiencing--- in fact, they are part of our problem.

The one thing I would hope to see from Mark Dayton which he has remained silent on, is that he stands up and speaks out loudly and clearly in defense of democracy against these horrible raids and the issuance of subpoenas to peace activists ordering that they appear at a Grand Jury inquisition to answer questions one would expect from goose-stepping quislings of some two-bit, half-assed fascist dictatorship because our democracy is very fragile as it is after years of Pawlenty and Bush--- our democracy likely cannot survive being plunged into another era of McCarthyism.

Hopefully, Mark Dayton will be calling for the disbanding of the "Red Squads" in Minnesota which are destroying our most basic and fundamental human and constitutional rights by infiltrating organizations in order to thwart citizen participation in the democratic process that is basic and fundamental to democracy.

As for all of you pushing people to vote without thinking, here is something to consider:

If I were to vote for Democrat Collin Peterson for Congress I would be voting for a candidate more reactionary than any Republican because these are Collin Peterson's own words to the media:

"I am more conservative than any Republican."

Who gave the orders for these raids and issuance of subpoenas to appear at an inquisition if not Barack Obama?

President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, CIA Director Leon Panetta,  National Security Administration Director General Keith B. Alexander and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have worked in collusion in these raids against peace and international solidarity activists with their subpoenas summoning them to a Grand Jury investigation in Chicago known for its corrupt courts including the Federal Judiciary to supposedly find out what connections exist between peace activists, international solidarity activists and the victims of U.S. imperialism's oppression and wars.


How do we know there has been this collusion between Obama's White House and these other agencies? Because we know from what has been released in the joint report from the FBI and CIA--- "Family Jewels"--- that this is the way these agencies collude and cooperate.


We also know from the long-running COINTELPRO operations that they work in this manner.


What is even more interesting is that the organization under attack right now were Obama supporters in 2008.


First came attacks by Obama's White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs who tried to badger and bully the opponents of these dirty wars into silence. No one was bullied... in fact this plan backfired on Obama and the Democrats.


Then came Obama himself, this time with an attack trying to silence his growing liberal critics. Again, this didn't work too well for Obama.


So, out comes the Obama Administration in full force against a tiny left-wing cultish grouping pulling together supporters of Mao--- an organization which had been vigorous supporters during the 2008 Election Campaign and beyond. Even now while under attack, this little group has managed to avoid using Barack Obama's name. Why? To shield the Democrats in the November Election?


Where are the Democratic Party members of Congress insisting that these subpoenas be withdrawn? Where are Democratic Party officials in the local communities? Why are they not condemning these raids and subpoenas? Is it because local law enforcement and in the case here in Minnesota, that the Public Safety Commission is all part of this "network of cooperation" established with help from Humbert Humphrey known as "Red Squads" created under the Communist Control Act which Humphrey was its principal author? At the time, Humphrey used this most anti-democratic legislative initiative to help him destroy the last remaining influence of the Communist Party's activities in the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were murdered by this exact same kind of collusion between these government agencies operating like sewer-rats under the cloak of darkness.


The Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union which is nothing but a front group for the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, has remained completely silent about this fascist-like cabal that has been operating out of Washington for years which is now headed up by Barack Obama.


This closed-door Grand Jury inquisition must not be allowed to proceed. We know from our history that this is the way the infamous and destructive anti-democratic Dies Committee got off the ground in 1938 and in 1947 Joe McCarthy began his anti-Communist crusade in the same secretive manner behind closed doors... even when the American people clamored against these closed door hearings... McCarthy stacked the hearing rooms with his anti-Communist, racist, anti-Semitic and fascist supporters while Hubert Humphrey entered the picture and made it possible for these agencies to collaborate behind closed doors in organizing its attacks on Communists, peace activists, labor and civil rights activists. Our country has never fully recovered from the "Red Scare" and now Barack Obama is launching us into another round of political darkness with these raids and subpoenas to a secret Grand Jury.


All those who have been issued subpoenas should refuse to show up for this Grand Jury inquisition they are calling an "investigation"... they should seek refuge in a church and they should receive the support required from the liberal, progressive and left communities in this country with a bona fide and legitimate defense committee established, not their stupid little front groups the FRSO is known for, since there are no organizations at present willing to fight this case as it should be fought--- including making Obama and the Democrats pay on Election Day... how much more of this crap are people going to put up with from this Wall Street health insurance salesman who is nothing but a flim-flam man and con-artist extraordinaire who told us all in his essay written exclusively for Foreign Affairs Magazine, Renewing America's Leadership, exactly what his neo-liberal  Wall Street agenda was going to consist of: wars abroad and austerity at home which anyone with an ounce of common sense knows requires political repression.


Freedom Road Socialist Organization, while claiming some kind of "vanguard" status sure didn't do its job in educating people about Obama's real Wall Street agenda--- but we shouldn't hold this against them as we build a network to defend democracy because we all know that this has been in the works for many months, if not for two years because this kind of government operation requires the expenditures of hundreds of thousands of dollars with massive paper-work and "investigative" work for any government to frame people as democracy is smothered.


One would hope that here in Minnesota, Mark Dayton would have the moral and political courage to add the abolition of Minnesota's "Red Squads" to his agenda of reform which includes taxing the rich to pay for public education and healthcare; establishing a state-owned and managed casino and enforcement of affirmative action... which, by-the-way, Obama has never instructed Attorney General Eric Holder to pursue with the same zeal he is now trying to persecute, intimidate, badger and likely begin prosecutions of peace activists. After all, if the intent of these raids and subpoenas and a Grand Jury inquisition is not to prosecute anyone, what is this massive governmental bureaucracy and cabal doing?


Really, doesn't anyone find it strange that the Office of the Attorney General of the United States would not go after state, local and federal agencies along with huge contractors and engineering firms stuffing their pockets with "stimulus funds" while refusing to enforce affirmative action as required by Executive Order #11246? Again, like the push for more involvement in these dirty wars, Obama's and the Democrats' priorities are all screwed up.

Free Kittens... a must read

This comes from my friend in Canada, Howard Pawley... who included a brief note: 

For a Laugh or two! 

Tommy Douglas would tell this story.

Howard

Note: Howard Pawley is writing a book about his life which will include his time as the New Democratic Party (NDP) Premier of Manitoba Canada.--- A.L.M.

FREE KITTENS  A pretty little girl named Suzy was standing on the sidewalk in front of her home. Next to her was a basket containing a number of tiny creatures; in her hand was a sign announcing FREE KITTENS. Suddenly a line of big black cars pulled up beside her. Out of the lead car stepped a tall, grinning man. "Hi there little girl, I'm Mr. Ignatieff. What do you have in the basket?" he asked. "Kittens," little Suzy said. "How old are they?" asked Ignatieff Suzy replied, "They're so young, their eyes aren't even open yet." "And what kind of kittens are they?" "Liberals," answered Suzy with a smile. Ignatieff was delighted. As soon as he returned to his car, he called his PR chief and told him about the little girl and the kittens. Recognizing the perfect photo op, the two men agreed that  Mr Ignatieff should return the next day; and in front of the assembled media, have the girl talk about her discerning kittens. So the next day, Suzy was again standing on the sidewalk with her basket of "FREE KITTENS," when another motorcade pulled up, this time followed by vans from CBC, CTV,  and CNN. Cameras and audio equipment were quickly set up, then Ignatieff got out of his limo and walked over to little Suzy. "Hello, again," he said, "I'd love it if you would tell all my friends out there what kind of kittens you're giving away." "Yes sir," Suzy said. "They're New Democrats." Taken by surprise, Mr. Ignatieff stammered, "But... but... yesterday, you told me they were LIBERALS." Little Suzy smiled and said, "I know. But today, they have their eyes open"