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Note to progressives: According to Jane Hamsher yesterday on the radio, MoveOn is running ads in Ohio to get rid of Kucinich because he's against ObamaCare. I knew MoveOn has been co-opted by the White House but this is disgusting.
@ kim
go to members area (top right of this page, below "Welcome!"). From there you select "Account" form menu bar, eit option on the page that opens.
Re: The TERRIFYING attack on text books in Texas
My 14-year old child took three different articles on the Texas school board decision into their Social Studies teacher today.
The proposal is that the entire class write letters to the School Board during the next 30 days for their open comment period. Perhaps not only my child's class will write them...the hope is that the entire school might join in.
If the entire school does it then maybe the entire district will do it. Make it it's own assignment on Civics. Teach the children that they have a voice and they have the power to shape their own education. Teach them that this is how democracy works. Let them know that writing representatives - even school board members...even school boards out side of your own - is your civic duty.
If it catches on with the district, then maybe other school districts will encourage their students to write letters to the Texas School Board. If it becomes a movement then maybe, just maybe, the media will report on it.
("Imagine if two people walked in singing a bar of Alice's Restaurant...imagine if three people walked in and sang a bar of Alice's Restaurant...if you want to end war and stuff; ya gotta sing loud!")
Please encourage your children and your sister's children to bring in the articles and prompt the class assignment. We cannot allow our country to be taken over by the extreme right.
Education is not education if it is not factually based!
Thom,
James Clyburn is targeting 27 members that voted for the first House bill that are not on board with the Senate version. These are the Representatives that are possibly going to hold up the bill. Kucinich voted against the original House bill so why should he be expected to vote for the much worse Senate bill. Your angst needs to be directed at the unnamed 27 who voted for healthcare reform and are now threatening to vote against it.
@kim via e-mail :)
technical question: How do I change my email address on my registration?
I drove a taxi when I was 21. The state required me to be fingerprinted and mug-shot. I'm now on a list. I don't like it. I look at this as useful only to a police state.
On the topic of alternative energy: the reason that alternative energy isn't yet practical is that the government is not subsidizing new innovations. There are plenty of people working on new technology in their garages and living rooms, working when they have money for parts and time to tinker. Our government money is reserved for big companies that use already existing technology. This won't get us anywhere, since big companies stifle new ideas.
The other issue is that these little people working on new technologies are afraid of being assassinated by Big Oil or other corporations. Now, you may scoff at the idea that this is being done, but the fear of it still exists, and stops people from commercializing revolutionary inventions.
It's too bad the Jesse Ventura interview was sooo short!
There is so much more that could be discussed about government corruption.
Obrama???
The Republicans are rattling their sabres again, warning that if this healh care bill passes, the Democrats will suffer greatly in the upcoming elections.
wrong.
If they really believed that, they would HOPE for the bill to pass so the Democrats could crash and burn, and they could regain power. They are running scared, knowing that if this passes and once the American people see how it helps them, it will become another untouchable, like Medicare (which they opposed) and social security (which they opposed)
Even though the bill is flawed, Democrats need to get this done. Don't let the obstructionists prevail and gloat about breaking Obama's presidency.
In case you missed, here is the summary...
Pay Cuts for Congress? & “Big” Governments Republicans Mandating Marriage……
budget imagesRep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) introduced a bill last week to slash pay for members of Congress 5% or $8,700 a year — and freeze their automatic cost-of-living increase. With Congress’ approval ratings “spiraling downward,” Kirkpatrick said, “Families across the country are getting by on lower wages…so why shouldn’t senators and representatives have to feel the same pinch?” The cut would be the first since the Great Depression. She said she’s already started handing over 5 percent of her pay every month. Hey, Congresswoman Kirkpatrick – how about instead of leading the entire country, including Congress, to ever-lower wages and bringing us all to Wal-Mart pay levels, how about instead increasing the minimum wage, change our trade and tax policies to bring jobs back to America, and break up the big vulture corporations that put out of business local companies and prevent entrepreneurs from even starting new companies? Stop promoting the Republican idea that we should all be paid less, and take us back to an era when worker pay increased along with corporate productivity.
Thom you are at it again. Too funny about your ideological support for minimum wages and "living wages", so I was surprised as to how you spun the latest.
Let's see people should get paid based on what Thom? Just because you want income to be high for all including our "elites" does not make it so. Why should the filthy "rich" in this case get more pay for obviously not performing their job? Do you think their approval rating means anything? If they were waiters, do you think they would get any tips? Of course you think they should get paid no matter how bad their "service" is? I am sure you tip the same for lousy service because you want them to have a so called living wage?
I know you think that productivity should dictate wage increases when the productivity goes up but are you then willing to concede that wages should in fact go down when productivity goes down??? Not likely as you want it both ways. You obviously have no understanding of labor markets.
This is obvious in the sense that on one hand you want more small business but unwilling to actually lower the barriers to their formation including but not limited to minimum wages. It is not large corporations {or as you call them: big vulture corporations} that fear rising minimum wages as they will just pass on costs. It is the small businesses that will have higher obstacles to formation of small businesses. Take a gander at a couple of points about minimum wages:
5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Minimum Wage
The Effect of Minimum Wage Increases on Retail and Small Business Employment | EPI Study
PS: 1. Hey Thom, I see your little minions are running around again censoring information contrary to your views. Very funny indeed and almost fascist in its applications. In case you missed them the first time, I will repeat them for your reading pleasure.,,
You could stop this Thom by first stop spamming all my email accounts. Sue is suppose to have a list that she so graciously decided to spread to the whole world. Yes personal information was spread around. Wonder if that is grounds for...
PS2: Uh, Craig. Are you a conservative or just playing one? As you have only shown yourself to be uncritical and to repeat other people’s words, I can only assume as much.
Which unjust and unnecessary war is he talking about? Probably the one started by Demos, no?
It’s time we turn that around and tell the conservatives – The nine most terrifying words in the English language are – I’m from the corporation and I’m here to help.Now that is just funny shit. I am really scared that a corporation is going to come into my house uninvited and help me out. Until then, I will be more concerned about the Police State as Antifascist was always concerned about also.
Keep up the spamming, maybe one day I will read the whole thing…
PS3:Thom would be better actually creating a valid argument.
Why not present the information mst??? I am talking short term effects. Thom wants short term productivity gains to automatically go to “labor” no matter the level of unemployment but when productivity goes down as new hires are added to the payrolls then I am sure that Thom will not consider that “fair”.
Thom just has no idea how labor markets work and likes to cherry pick data to confirm his own biases.
LOL, Not my hero. I have no heroes and find no reason to go looking for them in my life also. Maybe Thom is your hero and you need to defend him? No?
PS4: We can complain about the deals afterwards all we want. My point was that if approval ratings is a gage of productivity and their productivity is so low, why would we pay them so much???
How you going to force them to be better educated? Re-education camps? And yes, Thom is in the education business, although disinformation is more likely the outcome…
PS5: Here Thom. This is a subject right up your ideological alley.
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Moorestown New Jersey Unions Highlight Union Arrogance
I just suspect that your attitude toward the politicians (more than likely middle class) and “living wages” would change drastically from your lead piece.
PS6: Hey Thom. Since you already spammed me on the latest blog post then why not post it here?
Compassion for CEOs?
The International Brotherhood of Electric Workers has filed a lawsuit against Bankster Goldman Sachs for overpaying its top executives. The lawsuit “seeks to stop Goldman from allocating roughly 47 percent of 2009 net revenue as compensation, saying such allocations ‘vastly overcompensate management and constitute corporate waste.’” Apparently the IBEW and their electrician workers don’t realize how hard it is to find employees willing and able to buy and sell stocks and only be paid a few million dollars a year for this brutally hard work. After all, these guys have to buy suits and ties. They have to pay for limousines and thousand-dollar-a-bottle champagne. Being a Goldman Sachs executive is tough work, guys – cut them some slack! Have some compassion!
–Thom Same dribble as always.
What do you do that is “brutally hard work”??? How much do you get on a book sold?
What do you have to buy??? A computer? Notepad and pen??? See how illogical your positions are with regards to your own standings?
Carry on…
PS7: We have another wiener!!!
Thom’s blog
Thomas Jefferson on Student Lending….
Six Democrats have sided with banks, against the Landmark Student Lending Reform. Who are they? Bill Nelson (Fl.), Tom Carper (Del.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Jim Webb (Va.), Mark Warner (Va.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.). The student lending industry has launched an “aggressive lobbying campaign” of senators representing states where big lenders are based, scaremongering about job losses resulting from passing SAFRA. Now, it appears that their lobbying is paying off. We’re a long way away from when Thomas Jefferson started the University of Virginia with the notion that part of building a middle class (necessary to a democracy, he said) would require people with some education, and advocated a national program of free education up to and including university levels, the last state to fall from that ideal was when Governor Ronald Reagan ended free enrollment in the University of California system. My question – how do these people sleep at night or look themselves in the mirror?
-Thom
Isn’t it so bad that your favorite bank along with your fascist promoter on your forum is against such propsals:
A Whole New World - US Banker Article
Bank of North Dakota makes about 70 percent of the student loans in its home state, but if the Obama Administration has its way, the $3.5 billion-asset bank would be out of the origination business by this time next year.
Full employment can be achieved through conscription. The spectre of Nazi Germany is completely explained by the oppression by the allies at the Treaty of Versailles. The working class was bludgeoned by the treaty, and looked anywhere for a solution, no matter how extreme. Blame the Jews? Easy - you can see them daily. Blame communists? They don't live next door, so that's easy too.
Linking this to the capitalist crisis of any other time is not complicated. Capitalism and its genocidal, scorched earth modus operandi is writ long in the old testament of the bible.
A different system, based on logic and science rather than sophistry and oppression is worth an honest investigation.
Otherwise, we keep repeating the mistakes of our past until we exist no longer. Group interest and self interest are linked.
It makes no sense to give up the amplified power of an educated and united populace. It also makes no sense to fall into blame and scapegoating when the interests of humans and all other parts of our world are inextricably linked.
I see your minions are at it again, Thom. When you going to get more useful idiots/?????
Just don't spam me or any of my emails then I would not find a reason to come back...
Cant we all just agree that libertarians are more conservative than Republicans? Republicans believe in government even though they use it to "protect people from themselves." Liberals believe Government can foster the means to achieve that by using government to set a standard for people to build on. Libertarians believe in a totally me society, with no government protections and try to say they're in the center of the debate.
Are we real Christians in the United States of Hell???
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Real-Christians-Fight-Agai-by-George-Wa...
If you are wealthy, life is great!!!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Life-is-Great---But-Only-by-George-Wash...
Quote: The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. — Ralph Nader Great quote there Thom.
Must explain the reasons why no solar in the Mojave Desert and the Kennedy's are patsies for the "big oil". Do they not own the wind also???
You sound like your useful idiots more each day...
Kicking Jefferson out of the textbooks is wrong! Not only is making Calvin the harbinger of freedom contradictory, not telling the life of Jefferson, his politics and philosophy is one the greatest losses of American culture. Losing one's culture is, to many, worse than death and people need their culture. We all must learn from our Founders, the middle-working class, and our indigenous peoples if education is to survive.
@mstaggerlee, I favor separation of Church and State. If I say something or if I link an article that seems contrary to my belief, I do it to generate some thinking in people.
Uri Avnery is one of my favorite writers.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Matter-of-Timing-by-Uri-Avnery-100313...
@Gerald -
I often get the impression, from your posts, that you, too, are opposed to Thomas Jefferson's concepts of the separation of Church and State.
Did I just hear Carrie Lucas COMPLAIN about somebody making a fortune on energy?? I thought that was the whole idea, from the Wingnut POV?
Making Ethanol from corn is fairly inefficient, anyway - it's not the easiest crop to grow, and has a relatively long growing season. Brazil has become fairly self-sufficient by producing Ethanol from sugar cane - a crop that grows easily and can produce several harvests annually. ANY kind of bio-mass can be used for Ethanol production. It's quite likely that the crop capable of producing the MOST annual bio-mass here in the US would be Hemp.
Hemp is a weed - grows easily, doesn't require much nutrition and takes VERY little out of the soil - no need to keep Hemp fields fallow after a few seasons to allow them to recover. While the South American Sativa strains may only produce 3 or 4 crops a year, you might be able to get 6 or more annually of an Asian Indica strain, which has a shorter growing season.
Also, Hemp produced for energy would make very poor Marijuana - making the weed produce flowers (which is where the stuff that gets ya stoned is) is what takes work, but for energy production, flowers are not the goal. Stems and seeds are, and they'll be produced quite nicely if you pretty much ignore the plant.
Is Texas fostering America's Taliban???
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Texas-Board-of-Educati-by-Ed-Tubbs-...
For my above link you may have to scroll up!!!