Many people are so repulsed--- and justifiably repulsed--- by the
domination of Wall Street over the political process that they are
calling for boycotts and burning presidential ballots.
Most
people in this country are repulsed by Obama who can't defend his record
and Romney's arrogance and lies with both being nothing but mouthpieces
for Wall Street's dirty imperialist wars and austerity measures here at
home to pay for these barbaric wars.
This is my response to
those who would withdraw from electoral participation which is an
important part of the struggles for peace, social and economic justice:
While
I join you in your disgust over Obama who deserves to be defeated and
Romney who should not be elected, in my opinion burning your ballots or
boycotting the election instead of casting your ballots for one of our
fellow activists for peace, social and economic justice--- Rocky
Anderson, Jill Stein or Stewart Alexander--- is counter-productive.
There is time to re-think your decision and I hope you do.
How would you feel if Rocky Anderson, Jill Stein or Stewart Alexander were to shit on a struggle you initiated?
Rocky
Anderson, Jill Stein and Stewart Alexander are trying their hardest to
raise our concerns and we should support them, not abandon them; because
their voices bring unity to our causes.
I would be interested in hearing a response to my concerns.
I offer my opposition and opinion to "burning ballots" and "boycott" on the friendliest of terms.
I
would note that because some liberals, progressives and leftists have
betrayed us (examples: Progressives for Obama/Progressive America
Rising, Campaign for America's Future, Progressive Democrats of America,
etc.) in supporting Obama there is no reason we should jump without
thinking to the opposite extreme; thereby adding more confusion to the
mix when we--- as liberals, progressives and leftists--- should be
contributing leadership and clear thinking to the issues, problems,
movements and struggles for peace, social and economic justice;
constructive participation in the electoral process in defense of
democracy as part of our struggles is part of our responsibility.
Between
Rocky Anderson, Jill Stein and Stewart Alexander, certainly there is an
alternative any liberal, progressive or leftist can support.
My
preference, voiced a number of times, would have been that these three
candidates should have united with one voice in a single united ticket
but this did not come to be. BUT, these three candidates have agreed to
sign on to the "Unified Platform" < http://newprogs.org/unified-progressive-platform-ratified > which all of us should be able to unite around.
Again, I welcome discussion.
I
don't voice my concerns as an attack but rather to stimulate
discussion, dialog and debate with the understanding that in the short
and long terms we are going to have to find a way to work together if we
are going to defeat our common Wall Street enemy in achieving peace and
justice.
When all is said and done, we are going to have to
wrest political and economic power from Wall Street if we are going to
get real change so let's seek ways to struggle which bring us closer
together.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
George Lakoff, the trickster using linguistics
George Lakoff, the well-heeled, muddle-headed, middle class intellectual has provided a "guide" for tonight's debate.
Here's the link to Lakoff's shallow thoughts masquerading as "progressive thinking" on what to watch for in the Presiden
Here's the link to Lakoff's shallow thoughts masquerading as "progressive thinking" on what to watch for in the Presiden
tial Debates starting this Wed evening:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13764-what-to-watch-for-in-the-presidential-debates
Re: George Lakoff
Lakoff is NOT a progressive; he supports the warmonger Obama.
In his book "Don't Think Of An Elephant" Lakoff declares that progressives should offer "progressive policy directives" but never bring forward specific progressive solutions to problems.
His current book links being progressive to supporting Democrats: "The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic."
What Lakoff has taught these neo-liberal thoroughly reactionary Democrats is how to peddle their reactionary neo-liberal Wall Street agenda as "progressive;" thereby tricking the American people to continue getting caught in this "two-party trap."
Lakoff is responsible for "packaging" Barack Obama to be acceptable to liberals, progressives and the left by confusing them that rhetoric is the same as policies, legislation and solutions.
After all, Lakoff is a master LINGUIST, a trickster with words; it is his job to suck people into supporting candidates who sound like they will do what is right while knowing full well they are going to do Wall Street's dirty work and give us the shaft.
Obama is carrying out Wall Street's agenda of dirty imperialist wars abroad paid for with austerity measures forced down our throats here at home; and it is George Lakoff's job for which he is paid extremely well to make this sound good.
I notice in this article by George Lakoff, there is no mention of the fact that alternative REAL progressive candidates like Rocky Anderson--- Justice Party, Jill Stein--- Green Party and Stewart Alexander--- Socialist Party will not be allowed in the debates although people can see and listen to candidates Anderson and Stein as part of tonight's debate here on Democracy Now!:
http://www.democracynow.org/events/2012/10/third_party_candidates_to_join_in_real_time_on_democracy_now’s_live_coverage_of_first_pres_debate__1121
And for what real progressive politics is all about; check out the New Progressive Alliance:
http://newprogs.org/
The New Progressive Alliance is on FaceBook, too; just search "New Progressive Alliance" and join real progressives in discussion, dialog and debate.
All this crap about "safe states" has to go; no politician ever deserved to be punished at the polls more than this Wall Street warmonger, Barack Obama.
The central question of this entire campaign is one based on class that everyone is afraid to ask:
How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?
There is no question more important than this question yet it is not being asked of the American people because the very question has to do with a dirty word the corporate serving MainStreamMedia and all the muddle-headed, well-heeled and over-paid capitalist sooth-Sayers like George Lakoff assigned to give all of this a progressive connotation and twist wants to pretend doesn't exist: imperialism, the last and final stage of capitalism now in its most barbaric and cannibalistic form.
Barack Obama has been designated to oversee Wall Street's imperialist interests; capitalism in its twilight and dying days dragging us all down a dark, dangerous bumpy road with hidden curves headed straight to perdition with no stops for a breather in purgatory.
Mark Twain understood the barbaric and cannibalistic nature of U.S. imperialism as he gave considerable thought to the Spanish-American War--- a war still going on in the Philippines--- to which Obama has added more troops and the occupations of the Philippines and Puerto Rico we are still paying for but no one in government can tell us how much we have paid.
Like poverty, independence for Puerto Rico is not an issue in this presidential campaign--- after all, Wall Street reaps huge profits from cheap labor which breeds poverty in Puerto Rico.
And, like Puerto Rico, Indian Reservations mired in racist poverty are not being discussed.
How come George Lakoff is afraid to grapple with this very forthright and accurate question every voter should be asking herself or himself---
How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?
Poverty, its cause and solution, has yet to be addressed during this campaign even though any school child knows that working people without jobs and working people with jobs paying poverty wages are going to be poor.
And the contribution of squandering our Nation's wealth--- all created by workers--- on these dirty wars is, also, making working people poor as the Wall Street merchants of death and destruction grow richer. We might as well be dumping the wealth of our Nation into the deepest depths of the oceans.
Will there be any discussion of how Obamacare (which is the same as Romneycare) is really the "Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010?" One more question going without asking.
George Lakoff's ideas of what is progressive do not include the need to end these dirty imperialist wars so we can reap "peace dividends" to finance human needs.
George Lakoff's ideas of what is progressive do not include the need for a minimum wage that is a real living wage that is legislatively tied to all cost of living factors and indexed to inflation.
George Lakoff's ideas of what is progressive do not include the need for a National Public Health Care System and a National Public Child Care System which combined would put over 15-million unemployed Americans to work in decent, good-paying jobs while providing the American people with free health care and free child care.
Progressives--- real progressives--- are not afraid to raise these kinds of questions while bringing forward these very specific solutions to our most pressing problems.
Barack Obama deserves to be defeated at the polls; Mitt Romney does not deserve to be elected.
No matter which one wins the American people along with the peoples of the rest of the world--- we all lose.
Democracy is at the crossroads.
We have a real mess that is left up to us, We the People, to resolve through grassroots organizing and united, militant activism.
I find it interesting George Lakoff would have us focus on "patriotism" while leaving out any discussion of peace and poverty.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13764-what-to-watch-for-in-the-presidential-debates
Re: George Lakoff
Lakoff is NOT a progressive; he supports the warmonger Obama.
In his book "Don't Think Of An Elephant" Lakoff declares that progressives should offer "progressive policy directives" but never bring forward specific progressive solutions to problems.
His current book links being progressive to supporting Democrats: "The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic."
What Lakoff has taught these neo-liberal thoroughly reactionary Democrats is how to peddle their reactionary neo-liberal Wall Street agenda as "progressive;" thereby tricking the American people to continue getting caught in this "two-party trap."
Lakoff is responsible for "packaging" Barack Obama to be acceptable to liberals, progressives and the left by confusing them that rhetoric is the same as policies, legislation and solutions.
After all, Lakoff is a master LINGUIST, a trickster with words; it is his job to suck people into supporting candidates who sound like they will do what is right while knowing full well they are going to do Wall Street's dirty work and give us the shaft.
Obama is carrying out Wall Street's agenda of dirty imperialist wars abroad paid for with austerity measures forced down our throats here at home; and it is George Lakoff's job for which he is paid extremely well to make this sound good.
I notice in this article by George Lakoff, there is no mention of the fact that alternative REAL progressive candidates like Rocky Anderson--- Justice Party, Jill Stein--- Green Party and Stewart Alexander--- Socialist Party will not be allowed in the debates although people can see and listen to candidates Anderson and Stein as part of tonight's debate here on Democracy Now!:
http://www.democracynow.org/events/2012/10/third_party_candidates_to_join_in_real_time_on_democracy_now’s_live_coverage_of_first_pres_debate__1121
And for what real progressive politics is all about; check out the New Progressive Alliance:
http://newprogs.org/
The New Progressive Alliance is on FaceBook, too; just search "New Progressive Alliance" and join real progressives in discussion, dialog and debate.
All this crap about "safe states" has to go; no politician ever deserved to be punished at the polls more than this Wall Street warmonger, Barack Obama.
The central question of this entire campaign is one based on class that everyone is afraid to ask:
How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?
There is no question more important than this question yet it is not being asked of the American people because the very question has to do with a dirty word the corporate serving MainStreamMedia and all the muddle-headed, well-heeled and over-paid capitalist sooth-Sayers like George Lakoff assigned to give all of this a progressive connotation and twist wants to pretend doesn't exist: imperialism, the last and final stage of capitalism now in its most barbaric and cannibalistic form.
Barack Obama has been designated to oversee Wall Street's imperialist interests; capitalism in its twilight and dying days dragging us all down a dark, dangerous bumpy road with hidden curves headed straight to perdition with no stops for a breather in purgatory.
Mark Twain understood the barbaric and cannibalistic nature of U.S. imperialism as he gave considerable thought to the Spanish-American War--- a war still going on in the Philippines--- to which Obama has added more troops and the occupations of the Philippines and Puerto Rico we are still paying for but no one in government can tell us how much we have paid.
Like poverty, independence for Puerto Rico is not an issue in this presidential campaign--- after all, Wall Street reaps huge profits from cheap labor which breeds poverty in Puerto Rico.
And, like Puerto Rico, Indian Reservations mired in racist poverty are not being discussed.
How come George Lakoff is afraid to grapple with this very forthright and accurate question every voter should be asking herself or himself---
How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?
Poverty, its cause and solution, has yet to be addressed during this campaign even though any school child knows that working people without jobs and working people with jobs paying poverty wages are going to be poor.
And the contribution of squandering our Nation's wealth--- all created by workers--- on these dirty wars is, also, making working people poor as the Wall Street merchants of death and destruction grow richer. We might as well be dumping the wealth of our Nation into the deepest depths of the oceans.
Will there be any discussion of how Obamacare (which is the same as Romneycare) is really the "Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010?" One more question going without asking.
George Lakoff's ideas of what is progressive do not include the need to end these dirty imperialist wars so we can reap "peace dividends" to finance human needs.
George Lakoff's ideas of what is progressive do not include the need for a minimum wage that is a real living wage that is legislatively tied to all cost of living factors and indexed to inflation.
George Lakoff's ideas of what is progressive do not include the need for a National Public Health Care System and a National Public Child Care System which combined would put over 15-million unemployed Americans to work in decent, good-paying jobs while providing the American people with free health care and free child care.
Progressives--- real progressives--- are not afraid to raise these kinds of questions while bringing forward these very specific solutions to our most pressing problems.
Barack Obama deserves to be defeated at the polls; Mitt Romney does not deserve to be elected.
No matter which one wins the American people along with the peoples of the rest of the world--- we all lose.
Democracy is at the crossroads.
We have a real mess that is left up to us, We the People, to resolve through grassroots organizing and united, militant activism.
I find it interesting George Lakoff would have us focus on "patriotism" while leaving out any discussion of peace and poverty.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
AFL-CIO Endorses Nationwide Consumer Boycott of American Crystal Sugar in Response to Crystal Sugar’s 14-Month Lockout
The national AFL-CIO is calling for a boycott
of American Crystal Sugar after management has kept workers locked out
for over a year here in the Red River Valley.
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/37077-afl-cio-endorses-nationwide-consumer-boycott-of-
I find it very interesting that local, state and national AFL-CIO leaders were opposed to American Crystal Workers occupying the plants when faced with a lockout but now claim they will organize a boycott of American Crystal Sugar.
Does anyone really believe that this boycott will consist of anything more than a another press conference?
Richard Trumka has given American Crystal Sugar's management the ultimatum:
Negotiate a contract in good faith or face a boycott.
Given the fact that Trumka was opposed to workers taking over the plants when management first threatened the lockout; and for over a year Trumka has made no effort to stop replacement workers from entering the ACS plants and operating them at maximum capacity... I bet American Crystal Sugar's management are just shaking in their boots at the threat of the AFL-CIO threatening a consumer boycott as many consumers already "boycott" sugar simply because they can't afford its high price as a result of the AFL-CIO working with ACS management and politicians (Democrats and Republicans) to keep the price (and profits from) beet derived sugar artificially high.
Let's get real here.
The union has already agreed to most of ACS management's concessions and ASC management refuses to negotiate in good faith.
Do you suppose ACS management wants to shed itself from the union altogether?
In fact, the owners/shareholders of American Crystal Sugar stated long before the lockout that it was their intent to get rid of the union and Richard Trumka and the corrupt local and national "leaders" of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) used intimidation tactics against their own members who dared to so much as mention that a worker take-over of the plants be considered.
Here is a list of sugar companies from all over the world:
http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/companies/sugar/
How many of these companies' products do U.S. consumers see on the shelves when it comes to beet derived sugar that they can choose from as an alternative to American Crystal Sugar?
Union leaders are subjecting American Crystal Sugar workers to a losing "battle" behind all kinds of militant sounding talk that amounts to nothing but more betrayal from which workers will continue to suffer because they were not encouraged to do the right thing in the first place when ACS management threatened a lock-out.
The correct response should have been a take-over of the plants by the workers until the contract was settled.
There is a lesson in this for other workers.
For American Crystal Sugar workers this is now a done deal. They have lost; if the AFL-CIO union "leaders" have their way these workers will not only lose out on what they should have won in a new contract; they will end up losing their union--- and their jobs... the ultimate in concessions.
U.S. workers are paying a terrible price for class collaboration trade unionism.
What is required is a return to class struggle trade unionism with a good heavy dose of anti-imperialist education.
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/37077-afl-cio-endorses-nationwide-consumer-boycott-of-
I find it very interesting that local, state and national AFL-CIO leaders were opposed to American Crystal Workers occupying the plants when faced with a lockout but now claim they will organize a boycott of American Crystal Sugar.
Does anyone really believe that this boycott will consist of anything more than a another press conference?
Richard Trumka has given American Crystal Sugar's management the ultimatum:
Negotiate a contract in good faith or face a boycott.
Given the fact that Trumka was opposed to workers taking over the plants when management first threatened the lockout; and for over a year Trumka has made no effort to stop replacement workers from entering the ACS plants and operating them at maximum capacity... I bet American Crystal Sugar's management are just shaking in their boots at the threat of the AFL-CIO threatening a consumer boycott as many consumers already "boycott" sugar simply because they can't afford its high price as a result of the AFL-CIO working with ACS management and politicians (Democrats and Republicans) to keep the price (and profits from) beet derived sugar artificially high.
Let's get real here.
The union has already agreed to most of ACS management's concessions and ASC management refuses to negotiate in good faith.
Do you suppose ACS management wants to shed itself from the union altogether?
In fact, the owners/shareholders of American Crystal Sugar stated long before the lockout that it was their intent to get rid of the union and Richard Trumka and the corrupt local and national "leaders" of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) used intimidation tactics against their own members who dared to so much as mention that a worker take-over of the plants be considered.
Here is a list of sugar companies from all over the world:
http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/companies/sugar/
How many of these companies' products do U.S. consumers see on the shelves when it comes to beet derived sugar that they can choose from as an alternative to American Crystal Sugar?
Union leaders are subjecting American Crystal Sugar workers to a losing "battle" behind all kinds of militant sounding talk that amounts to nothing but more betrayal from which workers will continue to suffer because they were not encouraged to do the right thing in the first place when ACS management threatened a lock-out.
The correct response should have been a take-over of the plants by the workers until the contract was settled.
There is a lesson in this for other workers.
For American Crystal Sugar workers this is now a done deal. They have lost; if the AFL-CIO union "leaders" have their way these workers will not only lose out on what they should have won in a new contract; they will end up losing their union--- and their jobs... the ultimate in concessions.
U.S. workers are paying a terrible price for class collaboration trade unionism.
What is required is a return to class struggle trade unionism with a good heavy dose of anti-imperialist education.
Monday, October 1, 2012
The connections we learn about...
Do you ever wonder how some people are connected? The personal and the political connections?
People are always wondering how someone like Barbara Ehrenreich can be such a big Barack Obama booster.
Well, check out who her daughter is. A big-shot in the Obama Administration.
I think we need to learn a whole lot more about what the pay-offs have been for this group "Progressives for Obama" of which Barbara Erhrenreich and Tom Hayden are the primary founding members. Tom Hayden was a poster boy for the Israeli killing machine.
Just how "progressive" some of these people supporting Obama really are is open to a lot of questions... read on.
"The daughter of best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) and psychologist John Ehrenreich, Brooks currently lives in Virginia with her family. She has two children and is married to Joseph Mouer, who is an Army officer:"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Brooks
People are always wondering how someone like Barbara Ehrenreich can be such a big Barack Obama booster.
Well, check out who her daughter is. A big-shot in the Obama Administration.
I think we need to learn a whole lot more about what the pay-offs have been for this group "Progressives for Obama" of which Barbara Erhrenreich and Tom Hayden are the primary founding members. Tom Hayden was a poster boy for the Israeli killing machine.
Just how "progressive" some of these people supporting Obama really are is open to a lot of questions... read on.
"The daughter of best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) and psychologist John Ehrenreich, Brooks currently lives in Virginia with her family. She has two children and is married to Joseph Mouer, who is an Army officer:"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Brooks
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