Obamacare versus a National Public Health Care System. A response to Valerie Solem Minnesota Senate District 1 Chairperson.

This "Letter to the Editor" is being submitted exclusively to Northern Watch Newspaper for publication in rebuttal to a previously published "Letter to the Editor."

In the Northern Watch (September 8, 2012; Page 4 < http://www.trftimes.com/news/index.php?option=com_flippingbook&view=book&id=186%3Aseptember-8-2012&catid=1%3Adefault-category&Itemid=18 >  a letter written by Valerie Solem, Chairperson of Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Senate District 1, was published about healthcare; specifically her letter was in support of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare; or, a more accurate description is the "Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010."

The objective with health care is not, as Valerie Solem states, to provide health insurance for everyone. This only benefits the profitability of the insurance industry and assures profitability for the pharmaceutical industry, private hospitals, nursing homes and the greedy doctors for whom health care is nothing more than a racket from which they grow richer at the expense of a population getting sicker with people suffering needlessly and dying prematurely. 

Health care is all about keeping people healthy and helping to get people well when they are sick.

For health care to work most effectively and efficiently at the lowest possible cost the profit motive behind health care has to be removed.

In fact, as can be seen from many other countries, including our neighbors to the north in Canada, health care works the best the more the "for profit" motive is removed from health care; Obama care does just the opposite by enhancing the profits of the health insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and greedy doctors.

As an active member of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, including having served as the elected member of the State Central Committee of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party for Roseau County which is part of Senate District 1 and having frequently been a delegate to state conventions and having participated actively in Senate District 1 conventions, I know first hand how Valorie Solem has worked to undermine taking profits out of health care.

I am also the author of the resolution passed by 72% of the delegates to the Minnesota DFL State Convention calling for single payer universal health care; a resolution that was a compromise because there were the well-heeled in the Minnesota DFL, like Valerie Solem, who refused to support what is really required if we are going to solve our health care problems--- now a crisis with almost 50 million people still without any health care and over 100 million people under Obamacare unable to afford the "Cadillac" health insurance premiums so they are stuck picking up the co-pays which are often so huge it results in people having to declare bankruptcy.

Single-payer universal health care like our Canadian neighbors have would be far superior to what we have now. 

However, to solve this health care mess will require nothing less than a National Public Health Care System.

A National Public Health Care System would create over twelve-million good paying, real living wage jobs for people who would be providing us with health care for free through neighborhood and community health care centers.

A National Public Health Care System would provide no-fee/no-premium, comprehensive, all-inclusive (general medical, eyes, dental, mental health), universal health care from pre-natal through burial. A National Public Health Care System would be publicly financed, publicly administered--- and most importantly health care would be publicly delivered.

In other words, a National Public Health Care System would function of the same principle--- and in the same way--- as public education or Social Security.

In fact, the socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party led by such distinguished advocates for the rights of working people like former Minnesota socialist governors Floyd B. Olson and Elmer Benson along with Iron Range U.S. Congressman John Bernard were advocates of just such a health care system.

The question is always brought forward: How would we pay for a National Public Health Care System?

We could stop fighting these senseless wars and pay for National Public Health Care with the resulting "peace dividend."

We could "tax-the-rich."

We could institute a payroll tax like that which funds Social Security.

No one would suggest we should turn our public schools over to Wall Street to profit from. Who in their right mind would suggest that the parents of each child should have to pay the teacher a fee like we pay doctors. Privatization doesn't work for education and it sure as heck isn't working for health care. 

That Republican Mitt Romney, de facto supports Obamacare as Valerie Solem points out, does not validate Obamacare being legitimate as Valerie Solem would like us to believe.

In fact, the very fact that Romney and Obama support the same "for profit" health care system--- the "Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010" (ACA, Obamacare)--- only goes to prove there is no difference between Obama or Romney; they both come before the American people promoting Wall Street's reactionary agenda of greed before human need--- in this instance of health care it is profits for the few versus health care for all. On the health care issue, like all other issues, no matter if Romney or Obama win the election the American people will lose.

A very sad commentary on the state of our democracy.

And this is why I will cast my ballot for former Democrat Rocky Anderson who is running on the Justice Party ticket for President and Michael Cavlan of the Open Progressive Party for United States Senate. Both of these candidates have fought long and hard for the very modest reform of a single-payer universal health care system like our neighbors to the north in Canada enjoy--- at a cost far less than even the cheapest insurance premium leaving a huge co-pay; and fifty-million people uninsured without health care.

Hopefully, in 2016, we will have a candidate come forward articulating the need for a National Public Health Care System. 

We don't even have to look to other countries for a model when it comes to a National Public Health Care System. We have three very effective--- effective in terms of low-cost and superior delivery to the private sector--- public health care systems in this country: VA, the Indian Health Service and the National Public Health Service; all funded by our tax dollars. 

There is a lot of talk from Obama supporters like Valarie Solem that Obama is like President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Nothing could be further from the truth. President Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, was a vigorous advocate of a National Public Health Care System and President Roosevelt had to remove a National Public Health Care System from consideration from the New Deal reforms because the American Medical Association (AMA) demonized Frances Perkins as a "Bolshevik" for advancing a National Public Health Care System. It is time to stand up to these bullies like the AMA and all those who profit financially from people getting sick. 

-- 

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

 

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell: 651-587-5541

Primary E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

E-mail: alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com

Blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

The battle of ideas in our modern world has finally entered the presidential race... for a change, on the side of the people

I would encourage the widespread circulation of this. Rocky Anderson is the former Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah and a former leader in the Democratic Party now running on the Justice Party ticket for President. This is by far the best comment (and best response to Tom Hayden) I have read from any of the presidential candidates--- bar none:

(Note: This is the piece written by Tom Hayden to which Rocky Anderson has responded--- Saving Obama, Saving Ourselves: http://tomhayden.com/home/saving-obama-saving-ourselves.html )

(Note: This was obtained from peace activist David Swanson's web site.)

Rocky Anderson's Response to Tom Hayden...

Paul Loeb recommended Tom Hayden's latest pro-Obama article to Rocky Anderson. Rocky wrote this response and gave us permission to publish it:

Dear Paul -

I read Tom Hayden's piece several days ago and think it is so beneath him -- particularly the "white liberal-left" and "white blindness" racist condescensions.  There are, of course, many in the Black community who are justifiably appalled at Obama's performance (or lack thereof). 

See http://blackagendareport.com/content/what-obama-has-wrought and http://www.blackcommentator.com/484/484_kir_betrayal_share.html. 

If Hayden wants to make this about race, perhaps he should focus on the fact that, after four years of Obama, far more Blacks are living in poverty and four times as many Black women in the U.S. are dying in connection with pregnancy and childbirth than White women.

Hayden never would have written such an apologist piece for an imperial militarist and corporatist regime in the '60s or '70s.  Can you imagine such a piece by him then, gushingly endorsing Nixon because of his overtures to China, his signing of the Clean Air Act, and his establishment of the EPA?

Amazingly, he writes as if he is clueless about Obama's miserable performance regarding climate change and energy -- and the fact that tuition rates have skyrocketed under his administration.  He worries in the first paragraph of his piece about what Romney would or wouldn't do regarding these issues -- as if Obama hasn't made it all far worse. 

And doesn't it occur to Hayden that the reason so many Americans are misinformed is because our President is such a lousy leader/communicator?  (Why else would "only six percent of Americans believe[ ] the stimulus had created any jobs"?)  We could have had a single-payer Medicare-for-all health care system had Obama stood up against the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.  Even with the vast majority of the American people favoring single-payer at the time, our President wouldn't even let it see the light of day -- then rapidly and cowardly abandoned a public option.

I've described my "strategic" thinking to you before.  You know full well that I am campaigning to help encourage and inspire a broad-based people's movement -- the only way we'll ever achieve real social, economic, and environmental justice in this nation.  You apparently think it healthy for everyone just to shut up and be polite in the face of the Obama administration outrages.  Amazing for someone who writes and teaches about the virtues of citizen engagement.  Truly amazing.

Paul, apparently you just don't want to face your utter complicity in the outrages of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party.  You would like to see everyone just get in line and be quiet about illegal wars of aggression, the abandonment of the rule of law, the shredding of due process and habeas corpus, the abysmal health care system that causes the deaths of thousands of poor and middle class people (particularly people of color) every week, and the caving in to Wall St. campaign contributors at the vast expense of most people in the U.S. (and abroad).

Would you have imagined four years ago that you would be a cheerleader for a president who brags about his personal participation in deciding who will be killed in several nations, knowing that hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent men, women, and children will be killed too?  And does it ever occur to you why so many so-called "terrorists" despise the U.S. and want to strike out against us?  Or that we're creating more enemies and instilling more hatred and hostility toward the U.S. as a result of our disregard of so many nations' sovereignty and as we kill and maim people throughout the Muslim world with such reckless abandon?  (I wrote this before the recent killings of the U.S. Ambassador and three other diplomats in Libya and the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo -- further evidence of the hatred we have generated by our international belligerence.)

Would you ever have imagined you would so enthusiastically support a president who orders that U.S. citizens be assassinated?  (So far, at least three U.S. citizens have been killed by drones -- one of whom was a 16 year-old boy.)  Would you have imagined you would support a president who asked for, and signed into law, the authority to kidnap people anywhere (including U.S. citizens) and have them imprisoned up to the rest of their lives, without charges, trial, legal assistance, or the right of habeas corpus?  (Imagine what you'd be doing and writing were that same president a Republican.  The crass partisanship, instead of principle, that causes so many Democrats to blindly support this president is morally astounding.)

Damn straight I'm angry -- and disgusted.  Please read Ionesco's Rhinoceros, an allegory about the rise of fascism in Europe.  Whenever you write lately, I hear you "harumphing" and can imagine that horn growing from your forehead.  In a decade, you can be really proud of your refusal to stand up in opposition to the march toward authoritarianism, the capitulation of our government to Wall Street, and the gross violations of civil and human rights.

It's just amazing how "pragmatists" like you are selling out so conveniently, as our Constitution is being shredded and as our nation continues to cause so much misery in the lives of millions of people around the world.  And as the administration persecutes and prosecutes those who inform us about government crimes and other misdeeds, while allowing the criminals to go free.

Please feel free to distribute this as you see fit.  (I'll do the same.)  As I mentioned to you when you were in SLC, I'd love to debate you any time and any place about all of this.  You and others need to be shaken into understanding what your blind obsequiousness is doing to our nation and world.

Hayden and you are so optimistic about what you can push Obama to do during the next four years.  (It all reminds me of abused spouse syndrome.)  Where have all of you been during the past four years to push Obama to bring war criminals to justice?  To bring those who have illegally spied on U.S. citizens to justice?  (It's worth noting that you supported Obama four years ago after he lied to us as a U.S. Senator and voted to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that had committed federal felonies by providing the Bush administration with confidential information about their customers.)  To end the drone killings of innocent people?  To break up the too-big-to-fail banks and regulate Wall St. to protect the American people (and millions of others throughout the world) from another financial melt-down?  To combat, rather than exacerbate, climate change?  To end the disastrous "war on drugs"?  To reduce, rather than continue to increase, the world-record incarceration rate, particularly of people of color?  To provide decent health care to all Americans?  To end poverty, rather than sit back and support a president who never speaks of it and who has "led" this nation while the poverty rate has increased to 1965 levels (and while our child-poverty rate is the worst in the industrialized world, except for Romania)?  Are you aware of his pitiful record on presidential pardons?  Or of the fact that maternal and infant mortality rates are almost the worst in the developed world?  Are you aware that he perpetuated yet another big lie in his embarrassingly sychophantic speech to AIPAC about Ahmadinejad supposedly saying (he never did say it) that Israel should be wiped off the map?

Obama's not a statesman, nor is he a "leader".  He is a prostitute for the rich and powerful -- and has betrayed, with tragic results, the sacred trust placed in him by the American people.  The greatest problem we face is that too many, like you, seem to have no line you will draw.  Are no crimes too great, is there no undermining of the rule of law too egregious, for you to refrain from saying "No more"?

Best wishes to a citizen who seems to be losing his soul, Rocky

RE: South Korean Non-Governmental Organizations Endorse the Motion #181. Protection of the People, Nature, Culture and Heritage of Gangjeong Village

From: Gangjeong International Team

Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 7:00 AM

To: nousbases@lists.riseup.net ; ap-nobases@lists.riseup.net

Subject: [nousbases] [Gangjeong, Jeju] Fwd: Open Letter-South Korean NGOs Endorse the Motion #181. suggested by the Center for Humans and Nature

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gayoon Baek <gayoon@pspd.org>
Date: 2012/9/13
Subject: Open Letter-South Korean NGOs Endorse the Motion #181. suggested by the Center for Humans and Nature
To: president@iucn.org, akhosla@devalt.org
Cc: KIDD John <John.Kidd@iucn.org>, Brian.THOMSON@iucn.org, julia.marton-Lefevre@iucn.org

13 September 2012

 

Ashok Khosla

President

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Rue Mauverney 28

1196 Gland

Switzerland

 

RE: South Korean Non-Governmental Organizations Endorse the Motion #181. Protection of the People, Nature, Culture and Heritage of Gangjeong Village

 

Dear Dr. Ashok Khosla,

 

We, South Korean non-governmental organizations, are writing to you today to show our full support and endorsement to the Motion #181 “Protection of the People, Nature, Culture and Heritage of Gangjeong Village”. The naval base construction in Gangjeong has endangered rare marine and land species, destroyed local peoples’ lives and cultures while human rights violations are frequently occurring on environmental defenders.

 

We support recommendations to the Republic of Korea in the motion suggested by the Center for Humans and Nature, IUCN member organization. The construction of the naval base must be stopped immediately. A recommendation in the version that was modified by the Resolution Working Group reads, “Take appropriate measures to prevent adverse environmental and socio-cultural consequences associated with the construction of the Civilian-Military Complex Port Project”. It already implies and acknowledges the environmental and socio-cultural destruction by the enforced naval base project in Gangjeong, despite the opposition by the majority of villagers. We, as South Korean civil society organizations, do not agree with this recommendation because construction of naval base contradicts a core value of the UN World Charter for Nature and the Earth Charter.

 

On 30 May 2012, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Human Rights Defenders, and Peaceful Assembly and Association sent a joint allegation letter to South Korean government on ongoing human rights violations in Gangjeong towards environmental defenders who peacefully protested. Unfortunately, even though the letter kindly requests a response within sixty days, the Government has not responded yet. We would like to kindly remind you that IUCN Res. 2.37 is on Support for Environmental Defenders indicating “UNDERSTANDING that the participation of non-governmental organizations and individual advocates is essential to the fundamentals of civil society to assure the accountability of governments and multinational corporations; and AWARE that a nation’s environment is only truly protected when concerned citizens are involved in the process;”

 

In this vein, we, South Korean non-governmental organizations, firmly stand in solidarity with the Motion #181 “Protection of the People, Nature, Culture and Heritage of Gangjeong Village” as originally suggested by the Center for Humans and Nature. If you have any questions or need a clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us at peace@pspd.org or +82-2-723-4250.

 

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

Mr. Dong-kyun Kang

Village Mayor

Gangjeong Village Association

Mr. Gi-ryong Hong

Co-convenor

Jeju Pan-Island Committee for Stop of Military Base and for Realization of Peace Island

(26 Jeju based NGOs: 곶자왈사람들, 노래패청춘, 서귀포시민연대, 서귀포여성회, 양용찬열사추모사업회, 전국공무원노조 제주지역본부, 전국교직원노동조합 제주지부, 전국농민회총연맹 제주도연맹, 전국민주노동조합총연맹 제주본부, 전국여성농민회총연합 제주도연합, 제주 4.3 도민연대, 제주 4.3 연구소, 제주민족예술인총연합, 제주여민회, 제주여성인권연대, 제주주민자치연대, 제주참여환경연대, 제주통일청년회, 제주평화인권센터, 제주환경운동연합, 참교육을 위한 전국학부모회 제주지부, 천주교 제주교구 평화의섬 실현을 위한 특별위원회, 탐라자치연대, 평화를 위한 그리스도인 모임, 한국기독교장로회 제주노회 정의평화위원회, 한국장애인연맹 제주 DPI)

 

Ms. Hee-young Kang

Co-representative

Korea Environment NGO Network

(36 Korean environmental NGOs: 공주녹색연합, 광주전남녹색연합, 국립공원을지키는시민의모임, 기독교환경운동연대, 녹색교통운동, 녹색미래,  녹색연합, 대구경북녹색연합, 대전충남녹색연합, 부산녹색연합, 분당환경시민의모임, 불교환경연대, 생명의 숲, 생태보전시민모임, 사)생태지평연구소, 수원환경운동센터, 에너지나눔과평화, 에코붓다, 여성환경연대, 우이령보존회, 원불교천지보은회,  원주녹색연합, 인드라망생명공동체, 인천녹색연합, 전국귀농운동본부, 제주참여환경연대, 풀꽃세상을 위한모임, 한국YMCA전국연맹, 한국YWCA연합회, 한국자원순환재활용연합회, 환경과공해연구회, 환경과생명을지키는전국교사모임, 환경사목위원회, 환경운동연합, 환경정의)

 

Mr. Taeho Lee

Co-convenor

National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island

(125 Korean civil society organizations: 21세기한국대학생연합, 21세기코리아연구소, 4.9인혁열사계승사업회, 4.9통일평화재단, 615공동선언실천청년학생연대, AWC한국위원회, IVF사회부, KYC한국청년연합, 강정마을회, 강정을사랑하는육지사는제주사름, 개척자들, 경계를넘어, 공의정치실천연대, 교회개혁실천연대, 기독교사회선교연대회의, 기독교환경운동연대, 기독청년아카데미, 나눔문화, 남북평화연구소, 남북평화재단통일을준비하는사람들, 노동사회과학연구소, 노동인권회관, 노동전선, 노점노동연대, 녹색연합, 농민약국, 다함께, 동북아평화교육훈련원(NARPI), 무기제로팀, 문화연대, 민가협양심수후원회, 민족문제연구소, 민족민주열사희생자추모단체연대회의, 민족자주평화통일중앙회의, 민족화합운동연합(사), 민주노동자전국회의, 민주민생평화통일주권연대, 민주사회를위한변호사모임, 민주언론시민연합, 민주화를위한전국교수협의회, 민주화실천가족운동협의회, 반전평화연대(준), 불교인권위원회, 불교평화연대, 불안정노동철폐연대, 비폭력평화물결, 빈곤사회연대, 빈민해방실천연대, 사월혁명회, 사회진보연대, 새벽이슬, 생명평화결사, 생명평화기독연대, 생명평화마당, 생명평화연대, 생태지평, 시민평화포럼, 실천불교전국승가회, 언론소비자주권 국민캠페인, 얼굴있는거래, 예수살기, 외국인이주노동운동협의회, 원불교사회개벽교무단, 인권실천시민행동, 인권재단 사람, 전국교직원노동조합, 전국노동자회, 전국농민회총연맹, 전국목회자정의평화협의회, 전국민족민주유가족협의회, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국민주화운동유가족협의회(사), 전국빈민연합, 전국여성농민회총연합, 전국여성연대, 전국장애인차별철폐연대, 전국학생행진, 전쟁없는세상, 전태일노동대학, 전태일재단, 제주군사기지저지와평화의섬실현을위한범도민대책위원회, 제주사회문제협의회, 제주해군기지반대강정주민대책위원회, 조국통일범민족연합 남측본부, 주한미군범죄근절운동본부, 진보사랑, 진실을알리는시민, 참여연대, 천주교인권위원회, 천주교정의구현전국연합, 통일광장, 통일문제연구소, 평화군축박람회준비위원회, 평화네트워크, 평화누리, 평화를 만드는 여성회, 평화바닥, 평화바람, 평화박물관, 평화와통일을여는사람들, 평화재향군인회, 평화통일시민연대, 평화통일연구소, 하나누리, 한국가톨릭농민회(사), 한국교회인권센터, 한국기독교교회협의회(NCCK) 정의평화위원회, 한국기독교사회문제연구원, 한국기독교장로회 교회사회위원회, 한국기독교장로회 생명선교연대, 한국기독청년학생연합회, 한국비정규센터, 한국아나뱁티스트센터(KAC), 한국여성단체연합, 한국정신대문제대책협의회, 한국진보연대, 한국청년연대, 한국YMCA전국연맹, 한민족생활문화연구회(사), 한빛누리, 함께하는 시민행동, 현장실천연대, 환경운동연합, 환경정의, 희년함께)

Poverty's Up, Yet Still on the Back Burner

Poverty's Up, Yet Still on the Back Burner

By Bob Herbert
Policy Shop
August 22, 2012

http://www.policyshop.net/home/2012/8/22/povertys-up-yet-still-on-the-back-burner.html

A guest at the St. John's Lutheran Church Freeze
Shelter in Atlanta, Georgia. Flickr/Greg Williams

In a speech at the University of Kansas in February
of the tumultuous year 1968, Robert F. Kennedy
spoke of the plight of the poorest Americans, those
struggling in devastated rural areas, and on Indian
reservations and in the tenements and housing
projects of the inner cities. He was blunt. "We must
begin," he said, "to end this disgrace of the other
America."

Addressing the myriad problems associated with
poverty and joblessness was, in Kennedy's view, "an
urgent national priority." But he went further. "Even
if we act to erase material poverty," he said, "there is
another, greater task. It is to confront the poverty of
satisfaction, purpose and dignity that afflicts us all.
Too much and for too long, we seem to have
surrendered personal excellence and community
values in the mere accumulation of material things."

Those were the words of a United States senator two
days before he announced officially that he was
running for president. Yes, there actually was a time
when mainstream politicians were not afraid to
speak of our obligation to extend a hand of help and
friendship to those at the bottom of the economic
heap, the individuals and families locked in a long
and wearying fight to make it from one difficult day
to the next.

We abandoned the fight against poverty and it's
been growing like an infection in an untreated
wound. It's as much of a disgrace as it was in
Kennedy's era but the willingness of mainstream
politicians to speak out candidly and forcefully
against it seems as old-fashioned as carbon paper
and rotary phones.

America should be ashamed.

Nearly 50 million people in this country, the richest
in the world, are poor. Another 50 million, the near-
poor, are just a notch or two above the official
poverty line. They can feel the awful flames of
poverty licking at their heels. Those two groups, the
poor and the near-poor, make up nearly one-third of
the entire American population.

And what are our mainstream politicians doing?
When they're not hammering the poor, mocking
them, waging war on the threadbare safety net
programs that help stave off destitution, they're
running as fast as they can away from the issue of
poverty and from the poor themselves, running like
sprinters chasing Olympic gold.

No one wants to be too closely identified with the
poor.

Back in February, Mitt Romney breezily said, "I'm
not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety
net there." His campaign's focus, he said, was on
"middle-income Americans." (He would later say his
comments were a "misstatement.")

President Obama established a task force on the
middle class in the White House. Like most
mainstream  politicians, he talks about the middle
class incessantly while going out of his way to avoid
mentioning poverty.

Newt Gingrich's vision of helping the poor was to
roll back child labor laws and have children work as
janitors in their schools.  "This is how people rise in
America," he said. "They learn to work."

The Republican Party is obsessive in its efforts to
hack away at programs that help keep people out of
poverty, like Medicare and Social Security, or that
provide some sustenance to those who are already
poor, like Medicaid, food stamps and cash benefits.
Gingrich mocked Obama as  the "food stamp
president."

This behavior is insidious. It breeds not just neglect
but indifference to the poor. It encourages the
already strong tendency to blame poor people
themselves for their financial straits. It helps to cast
them as some kind of debilitating, parasitical "other"
and all but insures that  they are kept out of the
nation's mainstream. It makes people ashamed to
be poor, and that shame keeps them silent and
powerless.

Our strenuous efforts to keep the poor out of sight
and out of mind succeeds in keeping us blind to the
many tragic components of this spreading scourge.
One in every five American children is poor, and one
in three black children. Their poverty is inextricably
linked to their curtailed life chances - their
difficulties in school and in finding work, the
increased likelihood that they will become involved
in the drug trade, the sex trade, gangs and violent
crime. And it is linked to their heightened chances
of dying prematurely from any number of causes,
from disease to accidents to homicide.

When thinking about poverty in America, it's
important to keep in mind that not very far below
the surface there is always the toxic undercurrent of
race. So you get Rick Santorum telling Republican
primary voters in Iowa, "I don't want to make black
people's lives better by giving them somebody else's
money." And you get Hillary Clinton, in her
campaign against Obama for the Democratic
presidential nomination in 2008, bragging to USA
Today about her support among "hard-working
Americans, white Americans."

Somehow this has to stop. One in every 15
Americans - and one in ten American children - are
mired in the suffocating muck of deep poverty,
which means they are trying to live on incomes of
$11,000 a year or less for a family of four. An
astonishing 45 million Americans are on food
stamps.

And yet no one in high places thinks this is a
problem serious enough to address with any sense
of urgency. Very few seem willing to address it at all.

Which means it is up to the poor themselves and
their advocates outside of government to bring this
catastrophe to the attention of the wider public. This
needs to be done loudly, dramatically, provocatively
and relentlessly.  Marches, sit-ins, camp-outs,
camp-ins - all forms of direct action, including
creative new ones - are needed if the current
intolerable rates of poverty and joblessness are ever
to be substantially reduced.

In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail in 1963, the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explained why it was
essential at times for people to resort to
demonstrations and protests, why direct action was
necessary rather than tactics that were less
disruptive. The purpose of nonviolent direct action,
he said, was to bring attention to important issues
that the wider community was stubbornly unwilling
to confront. The idea is to so dramatize the issue,
said King, "that it can no longer be ignored."

That is what's needed with the burning issue of
poverty in the United States. The nation's top public
officials have made it clear that they have no
interest in coming up with solutions that are big
enough and bold enough to end the interrelated
crises of poverty and joblessness. Without dramatic
new initiatives, the suffering will only continue.

Our view of poverty has been turned upside down in
my lifetime. On a sunny spring day in 1964 Lyndon
Johnson delivered the commencement address at
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. More than
80,000 people were in attendance at the school's
athletic stadium and the address would come to be
known as Johnson's Great Society speech.

Johnson gave his audience a view of America's
ideals writ large. "For a century," he said, "we
labored to settle and to subdue a continent. For half
a century, we called on unbounded invention and
untiring industry to create an order of plenty for all
of our people.

"The challenge of the next half century is whether
we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich
and elevate our national life, and to advance the
quality of our American civilization."

He called upon Americans to build a society that
was more than just rich and powerful. He
envisioned a nation that demanded an end to
poverty and racial injustice. He spoke movingly of a
society in which the people would be more
concerned with "the quality of their goals than the
quantity of their goods."

What was really different about the speech was the
way in which it was received. It was, as Johnson's
biographer Robert Dallek tells us, "a great hit." The
audience was aware of the importance of the new
president's landmark address and seemed fully in
support of it. The speech was interrupted 29 times
by applause.

Now, nearly half a century later, with the ranks of
the poor surging and much of the nation hobbled
economically, officeholders can barely find the
courage to acknowledge that poverty even exists.

I had lunch with the great historian Howard Zinn
back in 2009, just a few weeks before he died. Zinn
felt that there was no reason ever to tolerate abuse
and injustice, that there was always something that
could be done. Among other things, we talked about
the plight of ordinary people in an economy rigged to
overwhelmingly benefit the rich and powerful. "If
there is going to be change, real change," Zinn said,
"It will have to work its way from the bottom up,
from the people themselves. That's how change
happens."

I nodded in agreement. The labor movement, the
civil rights movement, the women's movement (and
later the environmental and gay rights movements)
were all developed by people without a lot of obvious
power. They were loaded instead with energy and
intelligence, and a fiery, unshakable commitment to
their goals and ideals.

Frederick Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing
without a demand. It never did and it never will."

With that in mind, it is time for the poor and the
jobless and the underemployed to take matters into
their own hands.

Stand strong... don't get caught in the "two-party trap."

What are our goals and objectives as liberals, progressives and leftists? To elect Obama and defeat Romney or put an end to these dirty imperialist wars and use the resulting "peace dividends" to create the universal social programs required to solve our problems?

Obama was very clear last night when he stated the war in Iraq was over; but, what he didn't tell us is that the occupation of Iraq is now in progress which will cost us more than the war itself.

And the war in Iraq is only "over" because the people of Iraq have been "defeated" (overwhelmed) and when they recover and regain their strength their war against imperialist occupation will resume.

One need only look at any of the previous empires or imperialist powers going far back in history to the Roman Empire, the British, French, Spanish or to our own Spanish-American War or Hitler's Germany or look at the Japanese imperialists--- it is only a matter of time before occupied nations rise to struggle for their freedom and and once again war erupts.

Failing to recognize Obama and Romney for the imperialist warmongers they both are is going to be a costly and deadly mistake--- especially for liberals, progressives and leftists and the most especially the working class which will be forced to pay for all these dirty little imperialist wars AND the resulting NEVER-ENDING occupations.

As Obama and Romney carry forward their contrived ritual pretending they have any differences we should be organizing to bring people into the streets to oppose the next two wars they have prepared for us: Syria and Iran.

We shouldn't fear Romney because we know that it is possible for a militant, well organized, united and powerful anti-war movement to drive warmongers from power: Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon being two examples.

Using our limited time and resources building up opposition to war and these two warmongers intent on carrying out Wall Street's imperialist agenda is what is important, not weakening our already confused, divided and weak anti-war movement by supporting the enemy of peace: Obama.

Building a strong anti-imperialist peace movement is the only road to peace because support for Obama or Romney places us squarely on the road to never-ending imperialist wars.

It is wrong to wait until after the election to begin building a network connecting peace activists from around the country that will be a powerful bulwark against these dirty imperialist wars and occupations.

It is wrong to deprive real candidates for peace our votes in spite of the fact they have no chance of winning because we need to view their alternative campaigns as part of the struggle for peace.

Just as it is wrong to vote for either of Wall Street's two imperialist warmongers, it is wrong to suggest that peace activists wait until war breaks out to demonstrate opposition to the war.

Our opposition to new wars in Syria and Iran must begin by telling Obama he will not be getting our votes because of his plans to wage imperialist wars in Syria and Iran.

If Obama had any semblance of honesty about him he would campaign by telling the American people he intends to go to war with Syria and Iran.

This is the real dishonesty of the entire political process dominated by our Wall Street enemy--- they tell people anything they want to hear in order to get their votes knowing full well their real agenda has nothing in common with the words they spout.

After all; who would vote for Obama if he was honest and campaigned on a platform that included going to war with Syria and Iran? Only those who would sit in silence knowing Obama works from a "kill list" on his desk.

The most important things you can do in the next two months is organize an anti-imperialist peace organization in your neighborhood, where you work, where you go to school in your church--- and vote for one of the four candidates for peace, social and economic justice:

Jill Stein... the Green Party
Rocky Anderson... the Justice Party
Stewart Alexander... the Socialist Party
Roseanne Barr... the Peace and Freedom Party

If you live in Minnesota, vote for Michael Cavlan for United States Senate on the Open Progressive Party ticket. A vote for Michael Cavlan will be a vote for a fellow grassroots peace activist; the kind of person we need in public office.

Stand strong--- don't get caught in the "two-party trap."

Labor Day 2012: State of the Unions, or Can Labor Recover from Rightwing Assaults?

(Note: this is a guest blog published at writers request.)

By Pancho Valdez

"When the working class unites, there will a lot of jobless labor leaders"

-Eugene Debs, 1905

Eugene Debs a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World, socialist and presidential candidate knew from experience the betrayal of business unionism. Business unionism is supported by labor "leaders" who are paid six figured incomes, who mistakenly believe that the interests of capitalism and labor are identical and who go out of their way to to avoid doing anything controversial like speak out against war, giving workers a true voice in their unions or who support the idea of a general strike, like what was needed last year in Wisconsin. 

As a result of business unionism, the percentage of  private sector union members is at an anemic 6.5 - 7%. Public sector worker unions represent 30-35% of public sector jobs and will soon have less if labor doesn't do a quick about face and get into fighting mode. By that I mean ending the fatal dependency on the Democratic Party, use of the NLRB, the electoral system and judicial system. Our history began in the streets and on the work sites, but it is on it's way to end in the elections/political patronage, administrative hearings and in the courts. Such practices and places are alien to us just as land is alien to fish!`These practices/places are good only when we have workers in control of the electoral process, the administrative process and the court systems.This can only come about through viable people's political parties.

To clarify what I am saying let's look at the recent situation in Wisconsin. Last year many public workers such as nurses, firefighters, school teachers, librarians, and others were pushing for a general strike in opposition to Governor Scott Walker's blatantly anti-labor legislation and his corrupt ties to the fascist minded Koch brothers, Charles G. and David H. Instead of utilizing the general strike, public worker union leaders defused the situation and began the ill fated recall campaign against Walker. While they were successful in obtaining more than enough signatures for the recall, workers depended on the Democratic Party for support and learned the hard way of why depending on politicians and corporate funded political parties is not a wise decision. The Democrats went through the motion of running Tom Barrett against Walker. Critics in Wisconsin cite the poor participation of the democratic leadership and the failure of President  Obama to travel to Wisconsin and lend support to the recall campaign.  The moral of the story is is NEVER trust politicians to fight our battles. There support can be good, usually when forced to do it. To put all our eggs in one basket proved disastrous.

On the local labor scene UNITE HERE continues it's organizing of hotel and restaurant workers on the Riverwalk. While the struggle has been long, both union staff and rank & file members feel confident that victory is inevitable. At present a campaign has begun at the Grand Hyatt as hotel bosses are resorting to stealing tips earned and intended for wait staff, kitchen and  housekeeping staff. One example is when the Dallas Cowboy, NFL team stayed at the Grand Hyatt, they were charged a 22% "service charge." The players were under the impression that the $3,000 on the bill was going to the housekeepers who kept their rooms immaculate and tidy. (Football players are not the neatest people)

Instead Hyatt management pocketed the money and not one single rank & file workers received not even a dime from that tip! UNITE HERE will be pressing the San Antonio City Council to enact and enforce a local city ordinance to address this ugly version of wage theft.

At the C.H. Guenther aka Pioneer Flour Mill, members of Teamsters Local 657 go into their 19th month of strike. While the strikers persist, there appears to be a lack of community and other moral support . There also appears to be no plan to end this bitter  struggle without significantly losing the strike. Attempts to secure much needed international labor support does not appear to have succeeded as production continues uninterrupted by scabs, thus the company is not feeling much if any economic pressure to return to the bargaining table. I will say that I  wholeheartedly respect the gallant effort and persistence of these dedicated men and women  and I will request from my Creator intervention and guidance to successfully end this battle.

Closely connected to the organzing campaign of hospitality workers is the effort of local taxi drivers, pedicab drivers, riverbarge and horse carriage drivers to organize as well. What makes this drive unique is that some in this targeted areas are considered to be independent contractors while others are considered to be traditional employees. Whether or not a significant number are willing to unite and fight for better pay and working conditions, remains to be seen.

Nationally organized labor is in a serious crisis as it continues to be attacked and weakend by the right. In Indiana the reactionaries succeded in securing so called right to work legislation. Similar legislation has been introduced but not passed in Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. Desspite these vicous attacks far too many labor leaders remain of the mindset that labor's interests are the same as the corporation's interests. In my humble opinion based on 40 plus years of labor activism, the American labor movement must move left to go forward. This means revitalizing the use of the strike, boycotts and if needed civil disobedience, civil disobedience is a useful weapon against the increasing use of lock outs that employers find convenient to us. When union officials know about an upcoming lockout, workers must be prepared to occupy the factory, hotel, etc and do the old sit in. Current labor laws are set up to control and hinder us, not help us.

One important factor to be considered; had the minimum wage kept up with the pay that CEOs receive, we would have a national minimum wage of around $23 per hour! The current $7.25 per hour is a very low amount given today's outrageously expensive cost of living.

While some are excited about the so called Affordable Healthcare Act, the fact is most of the provisions don't go into effect until 2014. The only saving factor of this legislation was the prohibition of denying consumers coverage for pre-existing conditions. We need Medicare for All/Single Payer Healthcare something over 400 U.S. labor organizations petitioned for and were conveniently ignored by both Richard Trumka and Barack Obama.

Labor must also get serious and join in a nationwide effort to organize and build a genuine people's party free of corporate influence. Reforming the Democrataic Party is futile and foolish as evidenced by more that 75 years of attempting to do so. 

Prior to any revival of  old and needed labor values, trade unionists must demand that their leadership cease and desist with all ties to the The American Center for Labor Solidarity, a front of the CIA. Until this  occurs our labor movement will remain weak, continue to lose ground and never explore viable political alternatives. much less oppose current and future wars of imperialism and or cease relations with the pro-zionist AIPAC.We must all come to realize that the role of the ACLS is a dirty one and has severely hampered growth of the American labor movement.

-Pancho Valdez is a veteran of 47 years of civil rights, labor and peace activism. He can be reached at 210-422-8000 or

mestizowarrior59@yahoo.com

Obama was to face a massive protest in Detroit at the Labor Day rally so he chickened out.

Obama chickened out of going to Detroit for Labor Day after he got wind people would be demonstrating against his Wall Street agenda.

I was invited to post on the Detroit Labor Day FaceBook page. Immediately upon posting, I was told to "jump in the lake" and "get a life."

This was my response:

Obviously Obama knew he was going to be facing protests against his Wall Street policies if he ventured into Detroit, again, for Labor Day so he chose not to attend.

Obama is Wall Street's president not the president of working people.

To support Obama is to support the policies of Wall Street and all big business.

Supporting Obama is strengthening the hand of our class enemies.

I don't know how anyone could even pretend to care about people and then turn around and support this warmonger Obama. Is there no shame in supporting a president who sits in indifference as the Israeli killing machine slaughters Palestinians and who orders drone attacks against "enemies" which kill innocent children in the process?

Obama refused to push the Employee Free Choice Act through as promised; home foreclosures continue creating massive misery and suffering for working class families; Obama has reinforced Wall Street's racist agenda in refusing to enforce Affirmative Action; and, Obama has refused to raise the minimum wage as promised. Obama can do a lot of this through executive order but he CHOOSES not to. Obama has maintained that it will be private industry and especially small private business which solves the problem of unemployment when anyone and everyone knows it will take massive government programs like WPA and CCC to put people back to work.

Instead of real health care reform, from Obama we got the "Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010."

There is a group of women around Detroit who focus on women's rights as if only the right to choose matters and they are completely indifferent to the mothers who are losing sons and daughters in Obama's dirty imperialist wars from which these Wall Street merchants of death and destruction profit.

To those of you who selfishly continue to support Obama because you are so uncaring and confused--- you go jump in the lake.

And Hank Johnson--- it is too bad you have no way to bring back the lives of those who have died and continue to die in Obama's wars.

No two-bit, half-assed shills from the Democratic Party and pork-chop union officials supporting this warmonger Obama are going to silence me.

You can kiss my ass and go to hell.

Labor Day is supposed to be a day unity, solidarity and struggle where the working class serves notice on the employers and their politicians that working people are demanding real change not becoming complicit and acquiescing without struggle to voting for the boss' candidates on Election Day.

I would suggest that you take a look across the Detroit River to see that organized labor in Canada has it own political party, the socialist New Democratic Party.

Instead of pissing away the funds from workers on the boss' party and candidates take up a collection from the thousands of people who will fill the streets on Labor Day to start a working class political party in this country.

All the corrupt crooks stick together in life and in death.

All the corrupt crooks stick together in life and in death... a statement of half-truths and outright lies without one iota of consideration for the pain and suffering Stanley Crooks and his pack of thieves have created for Indian people comes from Red Lake Nation Chairman Floyd Jourdain:

http://www.rlnn.com/story/2012/08/28/news/statement-by-chairman-floyd-jourdain-jr-on-the-passing-of-chairman-stanley-crooks-shakopee-mdewakanton-sioux-tribe/4244.html

Lie upon lie... the insinuation here is that Stanley Crooks made these projects possible when it was tax-payer funds providing most of the money and Stanley Crooks only invested money in order to exponentially profit from these projects as he laundered money from the illegal operations associated with casinos that come with his "loans:" prostitution, drug dealing, money laundering, tax-evasion schemes, loan-sharking, passing counterfeit money, the illegal sports betting.

Floyd Jourdain has a lot of gall talking about how Stanley Crooks "breathed life" into anything when through casino operations he and his mobster friends deprive thousands of casino workers forced to work in their smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages their very right to breath clean fresh air in their places of employment.

As for "restoring" Red Lake fisheries; what Stanley Crooks provided was more poverty wages while his mobster friends now operating Red Lake Fisheries profit. Why doesn't Chairman Jourdain tell us about the miserly poverty wages and horrendous working conditions and all the workplace related injuries the employees of Red Lake Fisheries receive for their hard work?

Yes, for Stanley Crooks and his mobster friends this is "what it is all about:" Pretending to be a friend while profiting from the misery created.

If Stanley Crooks funded all these projects then what happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars tax-payers thought they were putting into these projects?

Interesting how once Stanley Crooks made his "charitable investments" in a project tax-payer funds disappear without a trace and without any accountability.

Why doesn't Chairman Jourdain provide an accounting for how much money Stanley Crooks and his mobster friends have taken away from the Red Lake Nation and its people in return for these "philanthropic contributions and investments?"

Tax-payer dollars subsidized it all and Stanley Crooks made off with the profits.

I would like to know why Chairman Jourdain doesn't pay similar homage to the U.S. tax-payers which includes the people of the Red Lake Nation who have been ripped of by these mobsters scheming to profit from the poverty of the people who never get the good jobs in any of these projects unless they are willing to assist the exploitation of their own people who work in these smoke-filled casinos and cut their fingers to the bone processing fish for poverty wages and without any rights so a bunch of rich white mobsters can profit and live outlandishly lavish life-styles?

And why doesn't Chairman Jourdain tell us how much it has taken to bribe Minnesota politicians to turn a blind eye to all of this corruption which breeds greater poverty than what the racist United States government imposes in the first place on Indian people?

The question of all questions:

How can any people be the objects of such overwhelming charity from government and mobsters alike be the poorest people in the United States?

Come on, Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain--- answer this question:

Why are so many people living a poverty existence on the Red Lake Indian Reservation alongside such massive wealth?

Statement by Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. on the passing of Chairman Stanley Crooks, Shakopee Mdewaka

www.rlnn.com

Floyd

Mobster Stanley Crooks dies in Minnesota.

Politicians and the media are mourning the death of mobster Stanley Crooks who forced 5,000 casino workers employed in the huge Mystic Lake Casino operations to work in this loud, noisy, smoke-filled casino at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws. Stanley Crooks spent hundreds of millions of dollars in "campaign contributions" bribing politicians to create this hideous situation.

Rest In Peace Stanley Crooks as casino workers will die and live in poverty as a result of the casino empire you built on their backs, and the crooked and corrupt political process you and your sidekick, the racist, crooked and corrupt, John McCarthy brought to Minnesota.

Don't we all have the right to participate in the budget process?

Why did Bill Moyers, like the National Priorities Project and all the other foundation-funded outfits, leave out the suggestions of the alternative parties like the Greens, the Justice Party, the Socialist Party and the Peace and Freedom Party in his chart explaining the positions of the Democrats and Republicans when it comes to budget priorities and suggestions?

Local, state and federal budgets are very important. People have a right to have a say in these budgets because, as my good friend in Michigan, Virg Bernero, constantly points out:

"Budgets are a reflection of our true priorities."

When I posted these suggestions for consideration by the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Kieth Ellison's FaceBook page he became irate and blocked me:

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

A program for real change...

* Peace--- end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and shutdown the 800 U.S. military bases on foreign soil.

* A National Public Health Care System - ten million new jobs.

* A National Public Child Care System - three to five million new jobs.

* Works Progress Administration - three million new jobs.

* Civilian Conservation Corps - two million new jobs.

* Tax the hell out of the rich and cut the military budget by ending the wars to pay for it all which will create full employment.

* Enforce Affirmative Action; end discrimination.

* Raise the minimum wage to a real living wage

* What tax-payers subsidize in the way of businesses, tax-payers should own and reap the profits from.

* Moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions.

* Defend democracy by defending workers' rights including the right to collective bargaining for improving the lives and livelihoods of working people.

* Roll-back and freeze the price of food, electricity, gas and heating fuels; not wages, benefits or pensions.

* Defend and expand Social Security.

* Wall Street is our enemy

- How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?

- Let's talk about the politics and economics of livelihood for a real change.

Here is a link to what Bill Moyers has posted. Why has Bill Moyers joined the rest of the MainStreamMedia and the foundation-funded outfits in blocking the suggestions of the alternative parties when it comes to proposals for the federal budget when these budgets are so important and we should all be included in the budget process simply because this is what democracy requires?

http://billmoyers.com/content/assessing-americas-safety-net-in-six-budget-proposals/

I find it particularly interesting that it is the alternative political parties who are using the data and research from outfits like the New Priorities Project, center on Budget and Priorities Project and all these other "think-tanks"--- and who are even the ones circulating Bill Moyers' own programs and website postings--- only to be omitted when it comes time to have these public discussions, dialogs and debates during these crucial days leading up to Election Day.

Don't voters have the right to know what some of the alternatives to Wall Street's agenda are by having them placed side-by-side with the budget proposals and suggestions brought forward by the two Wall Street parties--- the Democrats and Republicans?

Does not democracy require all ideas regarding suggestions and proposals for shaping the federal budget be brought forward into the proverbial "public square" for discussion, dialog and debate?

Bill Moyers should be taken to task by people insisting he includes the budget suggestions and priorities of the alternative parties right alongside those of the Democrats and Republicans who are nothing but shills for Wall Street's financial interests.

The struggle to defend and expand democracy requires that we fight our way into having our views included by those like Bill Moyers and the National Priorities Project; after all, when our Nation's wealth is squandered on militarism and wars we can't provide the kind of universal social programs required to solve our serious social and economic problems like racist inequality and poverty by raising the standard of living for everyone. These dirty imperialist wars are making us all poor except for the few greedy and parasitical Wall Street merchants of death and destruction who profit from these wars who we need about as much as my dog Fred needs ticks and fleas.

Stop the robbery at the pumps.

The robbery at the pumps continues.

And the reason politicians haven't put an end to this robbery at the pumps is because they are all getting campaign contributions from the big oil companies.

Many people have had to quit their poverty wage jobs simply because they can't afford to drive to work anymore.

Up here in northern Minnesota it is not uncommon to find people who have been driving over

80 or 90 miles to work (round trip that is 160 to 180 miles a day).

This robbery at the pumps has to end.

Just imagine what the cost of home heating fuels are going to be this winter.

Already the price of home heating fuel oil for furnaces is over $3.80 a gallon.

I asked the owner of one of the fuel companies up here what the reason was for the rising gas prices and he looked at me like I was some kind of terrorist. And then he said: "You are just a trouble maker."

No one is supposed to question anything.

We are all just supposed to go along with this crap and it gets worse from day-to-day creating a crisis of everyday living for many people who can no longer make ends meet.

We are having poverty imposed on us while the rich get richer swindling us.

What the heck must it be costing just in fuel prices for our navy and air force to be keeping the world safe for democracy?" And there are over 800 U.S. bases dotting the globe. I asked my Congressman Collin Peterson how much the fuel bill is for these mobile military units which are part of this "lily pad" concept where Obama has troops mobile ready to strike anywhere. He said he would get back to me. That was three months ago--- no answer.

We aren't supposed to know anything. Just go along and vote for more of this insanity coming from Wall Street's two bribed parties.

Everyone knows this robbery at the pumps is one big swindle and not one single one of these oil company executives is sitting behind bars.

If you or I or any other ordinary citizen carried out a swindle of this magnitude we would be tossed in prison and the keys would be thrown away.

And then these same politicians carry out wars for the purpose of stealing from other peoples their oil so they can rip us off like this. To think that people have to die in these dirty wars for oil makes me sick.

This is complete insanity.

The National Priorities Project denies my accusation they are fronting for Obama.

The National Priorities Project has taken issue with me saying that they are fronting for Obama.

Very routinely the National Priorities Project works with many independent peace and social justice organizations who they know full well have members who will be voting for alternative candidates like Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, Stewart Alexander or Roseanne Barr.

So; why did the National Priorities Project only compare Obama's and Romney's positions relating to budgets for militarism and war and not include these other alternative candidates?

In fact, this foundation-funded outfit is fronting for Obama in the most cowardly and deceitful manner by not showing the American people that there are alternatives to these two warmongers representing the Wall Street merchants of death and destruction.

Routinely the National Priorities Project tells us what we could have if our Nation's wealth was not being squandered on militarism and wars but when it comes to politics the National Priorities Project refuses to provide the programs of the candidates whose programs and platforms ARE an alternative to Wall Street's militarism and wars.

Instead, the National Priorities Projects plays this little game with us saying, "We aren't fronting for Obama; we are just providing the positions of Obama and Romney."

It is not like the board and staff of the National Priorities Project is unaware of these alternative candidates and their campaigns which focus on putting an end to militarism and war and being fully conscious that these candidates and their campaigns are more often than not using their own research and data to back up their programs and platforms.

On the other hand, does Obama use the data derived from the research done by the National Priorities Project in establishing his annual budgets? No way.

I accused the National Priorities Project of being dishonest in how they stood Obama's positions side-by-side with Romney's positions regarding budgeting for militarism and defense and I stand by my accusation that the National Priorities Project is just one more of the foundation-funded outfits fronting for Obama in the most insidious and deceitful manner.

And after responding directly to my accusation the National Priorities Project blocked this response to them.

Again, typical of how these foundation-funded outfits are fronting for Obama through censorship instead of helping us defend democracy.

Raise the minimum wage to a real living wage

I just posted this on Congressman Keith Ellison's FaceBook page after he called for a miserly increase in the minimum wage:

The minimum wage should be a real living--- non-poverty--- wage legislatively tied to the real cost of living index as monitored by the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics and recalculated quarterly with the minimum wage indexed to inflation, too.

What gives any employer the right to pay a man or woman they hire the right to pay people any less than a living wage for a job required to be done?

If employers don't want to pay working people they hire real living wages let them do the work themselves or hire their spouses and children to do their jobs.

And, yes, Elizabeth, there are numerous universal social programs that can be put in place that would provide what wages don't and price controls could be used to roll-back prices on everything from gas to groceries to electricity and home heating fuels... BUT, small business almost always clamor the loudest against these kinds of reforms just as small business cries every time there is any mention of raising the minimum wage to a real living wage.

I would be interested in what Congressman Ellison who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus thinks of my views.

This playing around with nickles and dimes at election time is a bunch of crap.

Let the politicians live on the minimum wage they establish and it will be increased to a real living wage real quick.

Racist and discriminatory employment practices also serve to drive all wages, including the minimum wage, down as huge pools of unemployed people act like a policeman's billy club over the heads of all working people beating our standard of living down.

Raise the minimum wage and enforce Affirmative Action and we pretty much eradicate poverty because as any school child understands, paying people a poverty wage assures workers remain mired in poverty.

We hear a lot of talk about "jobs, jobs, jobs" but it seems no one wants to talk about real living wage jobs.

You can put everyone to work at the miserly poverty minimum wage and not a single problem has been solved.

Over one-hundred million people--- almost all people with jobs--- are now enrolled in some kind of anti-poverty program. What does this mean?

It means tax-payers are subsidizing these poverty wage jobs which greedy employers profit from.

Democrats have refused to consider that over 15-million people could be put to work at real living wage jobs if we ended these dirty wars and used the resulting "peace dividends" to fund a National Public Health Care Program and a National Public Child Care Program making both public services available for free to the American people.

These wars are making us all poor and the resulting reactionary politics they spawn result in reactionary legislation intended to reduce our standard of living instead of improving our lives and livelihoods.

Here in Minnesota, thanks to the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party over 44,000 jobs have been created over the last 25 odd years in the hideous Indian Gaming Industry where 44,000 Minnesotans are now employed in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages and without any rights under state or federal labor laws while everyone profits--- especially the politicians; everyone that is except Native Americans stuck with the poverty-causing debt.

A new, huge Menard's store just began doing business on the iron Range with complaints of racist hiring practices and sexual abuse before the grand opening even took place with almost 200 mostly part-time employees and all employees paid between $7.49 and $8.50 an hour--- more poverty wage jobs compliments of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party carrying out the Republican's agenda.

New Priorities Project fronts for warmonger Obama

I find it mind boggling that the National Priorities Project would front for Obama in such a dishonest way by claiming Obama intends to reduce the military budget by 2% in 2013 after we have seen increase after increase with no real accounting for what his wars are presently costing much less how much the prolonged occupations of these countries will cost and then they even have the nerve to point out that the military budget will increase after that using cute words to make it sound not so bad.

As far as I am concerned peace is the major issue of this campaign and for the Priorities Project to be used to front for a warmonger like Obama is a disgrace.

We are now seeing a "coalition" develop claiming to represent liberals and progressives supporting Obama all who are saying the exact same thing they told us in 2007--- elect Obama and we will hold his feet to the fire.

No movement to coerce Obama ever came about as a result of initiatives from these organizations to do this and they have no intent of doing it this time around though they tell us the same thing--- elect Obama and after the election we will take up these issues.

Any one with basic common sense and even the most limited and under-developed reasoning skills understands that the best time to get politicians to act is when they are facing re-election by threatening to withhold votes until you get what you want out of the politician/s.

Have any of these organizations brought our concerns about peace, social and economic justice into the Democratic Party through resolutions at precinct caucuses, county, state or the national convention? The obvious answer in "NO."

Their actions have been to sabotage any attempt to bring issues forward that would prove to go against Obama's neo-liberal Wall Street agenda.

In fact, ironically, there is no bigger booster for Wall Street's neo-liberal warmongering agenda than that of the AFL-CIO whose President, Richard Trumka, speaks in glowing terms about the Israeli killing machine at, of all places, AIPAC national conventions.

Other than insert two short sentences into a position paper that it didn't even try to circulate, the AFL-CIO has had no comment on Obama's wars and increased militarism.

Let's have an outline from these Obama supporters as to what kind of initiatives they intend to initiate AFTER the Election.

We saw what happened with the "One Nation Working Together." It drew in workers seeking to fight-back and struggle to advance their rights and standard of living by insisting on cashing in on "peace dividends" derived from ending these wars.

What was the response from the AFL-CIO and its coalition partners who have engaged in struggle by holding press conferences that get no media coverage? The AFL-CIO shut down the "One nation Working Together" which could have, and would have, been the catalyst needed to "hold Obama's feet to the fire."

These people are all talk, no action. They even call themselves "pragmatic progressives" which means they would rather cozy up to Obama and his neo-liberal Wall Street entourage instead of fighting for what is right and just.

Think about it: Obama will have to be fought if workers want to protect and gain their rights and defend and better their livelihoods because as we have seen, Obama is no friend of labor he couldn't even get something as simple and basic as the Employee Free Choice Act through a House and Senate dominated by Democrats.

And none of these Obama supporters want us to remember that it was none other than Barack Obama himself who resurrected Joe Lieberman's reactionary worthless political career with the full support of the AFL-CIO. It was bringing Lieberman back into Congress that gave the Republican Party new life as Obama's goal was "bi-partisanship." Obama used the Republicans to push politics and legislation towards Wall Street's interests at every turn... Obamacare or the "Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout of 2010" being the best example of this.

And what did the AFL-CIO and all of these "new" coalition partners--- the leaders of these organizations who don't give a rat's ass about what their memberships want and expect from them do who are coming together under an umbrella to push Obama's re-election do? Did they continue the struggle for single-payer when we were so close to winning? No. They sabotaged the single-payer universal health care movement claiming they would fight for it another day. Ya, sure; you betcha.

These Obama supporters aren't even willing to participate in public forums and discussions with fellow liberals, progressives and activists about what kind of movement building is required with those who don't support Obama.

So, as a precondition for taking action, they eschew their own allies who more often than not turn out to be their organizations' own memberships.

Democrats had every chance to dump Obama during the Primary season. They knew full well the American people have had it with this Wall Street flim-flam man and con-artist. Yet they went right ahead and forced this vile warmonger on us again and now they tell us we are supposed to take responsibility to re-elect Obama so this terrible evil man Romney won't get in office where he would do what? The exact same thing Obama did--- follow the bush agenda because it was Wall Street's agenda and Romney if elected will follow the Obama agenda because Obama's agenda is the same Wall Street agenda.

Should we fear evil? Damn right we should fear evil--- Wall Street's evil. And we should fear any politician carrying out Wall Street's thoroughly reactionary agenda of wars abroad in pursuit of profits paid for through austerity measures shoved down our throats.

Richard Trumka isn't even as smart as my dog Fred. At least Fred knows to keep barking for his bone while a simple pat on his back from Obama stops Trumka from yapping and snarling discontent in the form of a few profanities at his press conferences.

Here in the Red River Valley over 1,300 workers employed by American Crystal Sugar have been locked out of their jobs for over a year... Trumka just got around to holding one of his famous press conferences voicing militancy but doing nothing.

"Doing nothing" is just what we can expect from these Obama supporters after the election no matter who wins--- this has been their pattern ever since 1948 why would they deviate now?

How capitalism works...

How capitalism works explained from a worker's perspective...

Abba Ramos, a veteran organizer in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union:

"If they can get a trained monkey to unload that boxcar tomorrow morning, rest assured, they'll have them over there and they'll have some bananas for lunch, and you'll be out on the street looking for work. Simple as that. You've got to remember, they follow only one rule of economic law, and that's that maximum production-minimum cost yields the greatest amount of profit. They don't deviate from that."

Share this with friends, post on bulletin boards.