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There are a lot of rally going on across the country. Yesterday April 15, USUNCUT organized rallies across the country and on Monday, April 18, there are hundreds of rallies being organized by USUNCUT and MOVEON.org. On April 4th there were hundreds of Union organized rallies across the country and I think just about every day some place there are rallies against local or state governments. There needs to be a campaign at the media demanding they start covering them. The Tea Party would have faded away if it wasn't for the media coverage they have and continue to get and their demands are going to drive this country off a cliff. President Obama and our other Democratic official have to know that we want them to do the right thing.
I think it was here on Hartmann where he cited a video of a conservative organizers telling his followers to go out and pan books and movies on the rating sites like Amazon - does anyone have that link?
I agree with drichards, lalsphere, making progress and others here smart enough to step back and take a deep breath after an Obama speech. Thom, you're way too easy. It's just a speech. Candidate Obama has arisen from the ashes. Yippee.
There's a rule in Washington that "A porcupine with his quills down is just another fat rodent."
And that is the point of Obama's speech - a soothing message for progressives in order to coax them into putting their quills down. It works, at least on you, Thom. It worked on me too - for about ten minutes.
Thom - we all know how wicked the Republicans are. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to keep your quills up, and those of your listeners, as this soothsayer does his magic. Focus on Obama, understand that what you see is real, what you hear is not.
Republicans are theives and murderers as are the bankers. It's time for a R E V O L U T I O N! It's time to use FORCE.
If Obama follows through on what his speech promised Thats a very good thing for us all Not just libs Not cons But ALL of us
Thom As a Realtor I saw this Lenders made what some called Liar loans No docs NO W 2 's No income verified Zero down . All : legal due to Reagan GOPderegulation. policies. .Banks / lenders packaged these ' junk' mortgages securities - labelled them as Triple A Sold them To Wall St who sold them to unsuspecting investors worldwide They made billions. Also legal Goldman Fed's Greenspan & crew had to know as much. Gullible buyers were told Homes values would keep rising and they could do a refi in a year to get out of the ARM loan.that would adjust to a higher rate.I call it a ' Legal scam ' Now we all suffer except the GUILTY
Ronald Reagan went at our government with a vegance. He dismantled the the greatest economy the world has ever known.
Glen Greenwald: "Obama, above all else, is eager to be guardian of the status quo"
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/04/13/obama/index.html
Below is just an excerpt from a rather lengthy article. Basically, I agree with Glen Greenwald.
Whether in economic policy, national security, civil liberties, or the permanent consortium of corporate power that runs Washington, Obama, above all else, is content to be (one could even say eager to be) guardian of the status quo. And the forces of the status quo want tax cuts for the rich, serious cuts in government spending that don't benefit them (social programs and progressive regulatory schemes), and entitlement "reform" -- so that's what Obama will do. He won't advocate, and will actually oppose, steps as extreme as the ones Paul Ryan is proposing: that's how he will retain his "centrist" political identity and keep the fear levels high among his voting base. He'll pay lip service to some Democratic economic dogma and defend some financially inconsequential culture war positions: that's how he will signal to the base that he's still on their side. But the direction will be the same as the GOP desires and, most importantly, how the most powerful economic factions demand: not because he can't figure out how to change that dynamic, but because that's what benefits him and thus what he wants.
Ironically, Obama is turning out to be "transformational" in his own way -- by taking what was once the defining GOP approach to numerous policy areas and converting them into Democratic ones, and thus ensconcing them in the invulnerable protective shield of "bipartisan consensus." As Digby put it: "Reagan was a hard-core ideologue who didn't just tweak some processes but radically changed the prevailing conventional wisdom. Unfortunately, Obama is actually extending the Reagan consensus, even as he pursues his own agenda of creating a Grand Bargain that will bring peace among the dueling parties (a dubious goal in itself.)" That has been one of the most consequential outcomes of the first two years of his presidency in terms of Terrorism and civil liberties, and is now being consecrated in the realm of economic policy as well.
UPDATE: Obama gave a speech today on the budget that many liberals seemed to like -- some more than others. It was a fine speech as far as it goes -- advocating, among other things, defense cuts and a repeal of the Bush tax cuts and vowing to protect the poor from the pain of deep entitlement reductions -- but I've long ago ceased caring about what Obama says in individual, isolated speeches: especially an Obama now formally in re-election mode. As I said above, he can be expected to oppose Paul Ryan's plan and "pay lip service to some Democratic economic dogma." If this becomes a sustained bully pulpit campaign to rhetorically sell these principles to the citizenry accompanied by real action to defend them, that will be one thing: I'll be pleasantly surprised and will be happy to say so. But what matters is actions and outcomes.
UPDATE II [Thurs.]: As I noted, most liberals, at least that I've heard, had a quite favorable response to Obama's speech, chief among them (as the above links show) Paul Krugman. Yet by the end of the day, Krugman was quoting Bob Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who argued that Obama's "plan is a rather conservative one, significantly to the right of the Rivlin-Domenici plan" and that it "could produce an outcome that is well to the right of the already centrist-to-moderately-conservative Obama proposal." Krugman himself added that "it’s a center-right plan already; if it's the starting point for negotiations that move the solution toward lower taxes for the rich and even harsher cuts for the poor, just say no."
That highlights two key points. One is that the expectation level of liberals is now so low that they cheer for a pretty speech that introduces a "rather conservative, center-right plan" -- one that is almost certainly the mere starting point that will lead to a still more rightward economic policy. And the second is that Obama always has been able to deliver nice speeches, especially ones that trigger the desired response among progressives; the test for Obama is what he does, not what he says in a single speech.
Republicans and some Democrats are guilty of aiding and abiding criminals in this instance and leading up to this instance. I agree with Shark. The only way to get just acknowledgment by the media is for citizens to just shut the country down as a mass citizens strike. The ultimate strike. The more participants the more effective.
I am banging this drum on a daily basis. In unison - everyone needs to open their doors and walk outside and keep walking to the closest major street or intersection. The streets need to be full of people just standing in quiet protest. The US needs to grind to a halt in order for the media to notice there's a problem here... that we're mad as Hell and we're not going to take it anymore. Can I depend on you to coordinate this Thom? You know this is the only way to be heard - we are all Wisconsin!!
Hi Thom,
Just some more of the same stuff. I believe the only way we are going to really turn things upside down is by turning liberal African Americans into the new Tea Party, we then start the job of getting the vote out there to suport this Vote Black Movement. We then start pulling in the American born Cambodians, Thai people and Sidhis out of India. We can effectively populate every branch of the local government with people of a Darker complexion thus killing the myth of a separate ancestry, this will show we are all the same people. From this point we start working on the rest of the non-dark complected world. This is important as it has typically gone this way for those of us who are lighter in complexion.
Is there a link for the David Cay Johnson article Thom was talking about?
Lets see if his actions are as loud as his words..
Yes Obama was on right target but we must make sure he follows through www.whitehouse.gov
Your Reps www.congress.gov tell them now and often
We are watching Keep them honest & motvated
VOTE DONATE VOLUNTEER SPEAK OUT USE LOGIC
DO YOUR PART NOT JUST GRIPE IT TAKES ACTION
GOP creed is and has been since 1981 Reaganomics deregulation- Bush Cheney Goldman Fed / Paulson 2008 crash 700 Billion TARP / edge of depresion is to bring another ' GIlded Age ' when Robber Barons ruled everything. Con courts did their part with the disgraceful 'Citizens United'. that should have been named ' Robber Barons United' The GOP will bully, lie, they will do / say anything to crush Obama, to stop his policies' Ruthless & cold like pods that take over our soul when we sleep .Ryan,Walker, Newt, & GOP Bagger loyal followers have that look in their eyes.. that says ' Get out of my way ' small people '.I will run you over if I have to '
I have to say , someone Is watching your show thom, and saying yes! I forgot. My complaint about Obama , is why he isn't talking more about these issues. Obama Get in their face please! Talk to us ! I agree , Republicans are still trying to get through 5th grade. It doesn't look good! Its so hard to believe what one hearing from them. *^% Are these adults? They sound like, 10 year old children making up rules while the game is already in play for their benefit only. ( They called them Bullies )
So, I guess he rejected Clintonomics or Rubinomics also since that is what Reaganomics morphed into. He could start by getting rid of any Clinton advisors and stop being a Clinton corporatist. However, I would like to see Robert Reich in his administration. I'm a bit skeptical since The Great Equivocator wasn't talking about raising taxes sooner.
Fundamentally changing the "American way of life" is not a nice thing to say. When I see what is happening in other countries, I have to wonder why there are so many who want us to be just like them.
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How soon will the tide turn? Well, that depends partly on whether Obama's latest speech is just another bunch of lies and/or promises that he doesn't have the character to keep, which is what all of his major promises from his first presidential campaign have turned out to be. No wonder he's not trying to use the same grassroots people who got him elected: he has betrayed their trust, and rather than admitting that blatantly obvious fact, he is pretending- like the politician he is- that it never happened, because now that corporate America knows that THEY can trust him, they will- if need be- help him cheat his way back into the offal office.
Frankly, I think that Obama is George Bush with a better vocabulary and better organizational skills. But if all I wanted was a candidate with a good vocabulary, I would have voted for my 9th grade English teacher. And if all I wanted was a candidate with good organizational skills, I would have voted for that traitor Jack Welch who used his organizational skills to turn G.E. into a tax-dodging, job outsourcing, ego-centric hack of a corporation, and who is so blind to what he has done that he actually wrote a book so he could brag about it to more people.
Obama has not closed Guantanimo, rendition continues unabated, military criminals are not prosecuted on his watch, he spends more money on war than Bush, and to make sure that he is doing it properly, he even started his own nice little war in Libya, which, coincidentally, is sitting on a lot of oil that some multinational corporations want to steal, and those multinational corporations own most of the senators and representatives in our congress, as well as our president and virtually all of his hand-picked cabinet, and a majority of our supreme court. Obama has had three years to start taxing the wealthy, but it wasn't until now, when, coincidentally, he is running for re-election, that he has even mentioned taxing the wealthy. It's like he's saying, "If you want me to keep any of the promises I made to you when I was running for president the first time, you'll have to RE-elect me." If you think that is good behavior, just ask yourself, how would your wife or husband react if you treated them that way? How would your kids react if you treated them that way? How would Obama's own wife and kids react if he treated them that way? Having seen a bit of his wife, I rather suspect that she would divorce him. In other words, Obama is treating US- the country that he swore to protect- in ways that he would not dare treat his own family. That is the definition of base hypocrisy, and in a man as intelligent as Obama, we can only assume that it is intentional, rather than a mostly unconscious expression of severe mental illness, as was the case with George Bush.
If Obama has done anything, he has re-affirmed my belief that with a few notable exceptions like Paul Wellstone and Bernie Sanders, virtually anyone who wants to run for a political office is, by definition, morally unqualified to do the job. So I say to Mr. Obama and the other republicans who are currently running this country, you need to consider how many more lies you can tell us and how many more promises you can make and break, before we force a return to paper ballots and start electing third-party presidents.
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Clearly failing to increase the Debt Limit would have a significant impact on Wall Street and the Banksters. The Administration has given them (W.S. and Banksters) a lot. It's time to collect on OUR investment. The Administration should "draft" the Wallstreeters and Banksters to reign in their stooges on the Republican side of the aisle and set them straight about whether they should oppose the increased debt ceiling.
The speech was in the right direction...BUT.... WHY isn't the budget that has been created by the LARGEST CAUCUS IN THE CONGRESS, 'The Progressive Congressional Caucus', even being discussed or given consideration by the President, when he, himself, has said that he wants to reflect the Will of the American People and bring us the "CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN" ??? I want to hear MORE from his bully pulpit and I want to hear it MUCH more often !
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Right-on! You are so right about Obama giving (semi-)progressive speeches, then doing a corporatist 180 or '150'. Actions speak louder than words, now for him - words don't matter any more with/for him.
When I heard about that Kansas representative tea-bagger state that it would, I paraphrase here, be a good idea to shoot "Illegals" from helicopters, a redo of Palin shooting elk or moose from one, I kinda figured that we are dealing not with humans here, but with craven homeopaths! These people are dangerous! Literally!
If this man can state this in OUR house of representatives, today, in 2011, what does that tell you about the civilizing process of these quasi-human fanatics? Another question - what about the people who elected this buffoon? What does that tell you about the civilizing process of those voters? And this man has not resigned!
These people, I can wager, are all probably Christian white folk who make it a fanatical ritual to go to a Christian church at least 3 times a week and wear their religion on their sleeves like a badge!
And yet they elect a man who wants to shoot and kill humans from helicopters! America, this is the type of individual, teabaggers, who are now running our country! Do you believe they have any, ANY, compunction to do right by America? These are fanatics, zealots, and fundamentalists who, without any shame whatsoever, state publically in one of our highest house of government state that it would be a good idea to shoot human beings from helicopters! Just think what they must tell each other when they meet in their private conclaves!
This is the EVIL side of human nature. There is an iconic Picture of a Lynching of a ‘Black Man’, taken in the South back 70-80 years ago. And there surrounding this poor man, are a group of white folk, their faces ecstatic, glorying in their ‘Kill”. They are literally rejoicing in this murderous lynching, surely not any different a rejoicing than when they attend their Sunday morning Christian services and feel the spirit coming into them!
When I first saw this picture I was aghast! Surely this is not a normal human attribute, I told myself. This has to be an exception to the rule!
That was back in my high school days. And sad to say I now know it is not an exception. When given the opportunity, when the shackles of morality are loosened, when it becomes the Christian or whatever religious persuasion you belong to ‘Right’ thing to do, decent god-fearing people do becomes murderous and evil, and do murderous and evil things.
So if you think that these teabaggers are going to do right by America I suggest you start reading more history. These people are crazy, and crazy people cannot be reasoned with. And they will do crazy things. Until the 2012 elections, America is in for a radical crazy roller coaster ride with these fanatics who are dead set on destroying America, not saving it!